Actually, vice does pay
Suroosh Alvi, who along with two buddies founded the hipster how-to guide Vice magazine back in the mid-1990s, recently paid $2,125,000 for a 2,319-square-foot East Village apartment, reports The New York Observer. As the Observer’s Max Abelson points out, Vice, a startup launched in Montreal using government subsidies, became successful pioneering a "trailer-park aesthetic;" it has since moved to New York and now has a lucrative deal with Viacom, numerous foreign editions and an advertising arm. In a few days, the magazine will throw a $250,000 Halloween party. “At a certain point I stopped eating beans and started eating steak,” Mr. Alvi said a few years ago, “but that doesn’t matter.” Meanwhile, Gavin McInnes, a Vice co-founder and the staunchly obnoxious brains behind the magazine’s sensibility, split with the magazine, reportedly over the Viacom deal.
Get the Best of Maclean’s straight to your inbox.
Sign up for news, commentary and analysis. Join 60,000+ Canadian readers.

