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The wild and crazy life of Shane Smith, cofounder and CEO of Vice

The wild and crazy life of Shane Smith, cofounder and CEO of Vice

Smith has served as Vice's resident partier since he cofounded the magazine in 1994. Here he attends a screening of "The Vice Guide to Everything," a series the media company launched in New York City in 2010.

From the beginning, Vice's brash style appealed to a punk rock, drug-using audience. Smith fit the mold. "I would be at the party and would just want to get wasted, take coke and have sex with girls in the bathroom," he told the Financial Times in 2012.

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Source: FT

In recent years, Vice has expanded its coverage to include politics, tech, music, fashion, food, and more general news coverage. It's also launched a record label, book imprint, online TV network, and ad agency, but Smith still knows how to have a good time. Here he's seen partying onstage with Bono and Jony Ive during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

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Friend Johnny Knoxville described him to the New York Times: "a decent, sharply intelligent, great big charismatic grizzly bear of a man, and those are the exact qualities you want in a leader, or a drinking buddy."

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Source: New York Times

He's also known to roam Vice's Brooklyn offices shirtless.

During a trip to Las Vegas for CES this past January, Smith reportedly dropped $300,000 on wine and steak for 30 people at Jean-Georges Vonderichten's Prime Steakhouse. According to guests who confirmed details of the dinner to The New York Times, Smith had won more than $1 million gambling over the course of the week at CES.

Source: New York Times, Business Insider

To celebrate its 20th anniversary in December, Vice threw a massive party that featured performances by Lil Wayne, Karen O, and Pussy Riot, just to name a few.

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Source: Gawker

Before the party officially began, Smith stood on stage and distributed checks of $1,500 to each of Vice's 700 full-time employees. The bonus was worth more than $1 million in total.

Source: Business Insider, Gawker

Vice owns Old Blue Last, a rock-and-roll pub in the Shoreditch section of London. Since Vice took over operations in 2005, the bar has hosted live concerts by some fairly well-known rock bands, including Arctic Monkeys and Wolf Alice. Smith is known to frequent the pub when he's in town.

Source: The New Yorker, Twitter

Smith has traveled to a number of exotic locations for his reporting. He has been to North Korea twice — when he traveled there in 2008, he and a film crew surreptitiously shot a film that quickly became an online hit. He has since been banned from the country.

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Source: Vice

Smith once told the BBC that he "wouldn't send any journalist anywhere I wouldn't go myself." He recently traveled to Russia to investigate a number of North Korean labor camps hidden in the Siberian forest.

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Source: Vice, BBC

And in November 2014, he traveled to Antarctica for a story on climate change. He's also reported from Libya, Pakistan, and the Sudan.

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Source: Vice News

Though he's now married and has two daughters, Smith still has a healthy sense of adventure and often brings his family along on trips. The family has a home in the Costa Rican jungle, which Smith says he uses as an escape. He told the Hollywood Reporter, "There's no Internet. There's no TV. Do I work there? Hell no."

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Source: Hollywood Reporter

The family's primary residence is a 2,400-square-foot loft in New York City's pricey Tribeca neighborhood. Smith reportedly paid $2.2 million for the apartment in 2009, shortly after he returned from Africa for a yearlong reporting trip.

Source: NY Post

Earlier this month, he interviewed Vice President Joe Biden during Biden's visit to the company's headquarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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Source: Vice

In October, Smith chatted with Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and filmmaker George Lucas during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco.

In August 2014, Vice's HBO show won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Informational Series or Special. Smith celebrated with producers BJ Levin and Eddy Moretti.

Source: Vice

Now read about another wealthy CEO.

How WhatsApp's billionaire CEO spent the year after the $19 billion Facebook acquisition »

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The wild and crazy life of Shane Smith, cofounder and CEO of Vice

Smith has served as Vice's resident partier since he cofounded the magazine in 1994. Here he attends a screening of "The Vice Guide to Everything," a series the media company launched in New York City in 2010.

From the beginning, Vice's brash style appealed to a punk rock, drug-using audience. Smith fit the mold. "I would be at the party and would just want to get wasted, take coke and have sex with girls in the bathroom," he told the Financial Times in 2012.

Friend Johnny Knoxville described him to the New York Times: "a decent, sharply intelligent, great big charismatic grizzly bear of a man, and those are the exact qualities you want in a leader, or a drinking buddy."

He's also known to roam Vice's Brooklyn offices shirtless.

To celebrate its 20th anniversary in December, Vice threw a massive party that featured performances by Lil Wayne, Karen O, and Pussy Riot, just to name a few.

Before the party officially began, Smith stood on stage and distributed checks of $1,500 to each of Vice's 700 full-time employees. The bonus was worth more than $1 million in total.

Vice owns Old Blue Last, a rock-and-roll pub in the Shoreditch section of London. Since Vice took over operations in 2005, the bar has hosted live concerts by some fairly well-known rock bands, including Arctic Monkeys and Wolf Alice. Smith is known to frequent the pub when he's in town.

Smith has traveled to a number of exotic locations for his reporting. He has been to North Korea twice — when he traveled there in 2008, he and a film crew surreptitiously shot a film that quickly became an online hit. He has since been banned from the country.

Smith once told the BBC that he "wouldn't send any journalist anywhere I wouldn't go myself." He recently traveled to Russia to investigate a number of North Korean labor camps hidden in the Siberian forest.

And in November 2014, he traveled to Antarctica for a story on climate change. He's also reported from Libya, Pakistan, and the Sudan.

The family's primary residence is a 2,400-square-foot loft in New York City's pricey Tribeca neighborhood. Smith reportedly paid $2.2 million for the apartment in 2009, shortly after he returned from Africa for a yearlong reporting trip.

Earlier this month, he interviewed Vice President Joe Biden during Biden's visit to the company's headquarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In October, Smith chatted with Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and filmmaker George Lucas during the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco.

In August 2014, Vice's HBO show won an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Informational Series or Special. Smith celebrated with producers BJ Levin and Eddy Moretti.

Now read about another wealthy CEO.

How WhatsApp's billionaire CEO spent the year after the $19 billion Facebook acquisition »

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