“[James Murdoch] was very disappointed and upset at [TPG’s] position,” says one person close to the situation. (Many former Vice executives and investors interviewed for this article requested anonymity due to the legal proceedings; James Murdoch declined a request for comment.) A different person close to Vice described the TPG-Vice relationship as an ill-constructed marriage: two attractive and accomplished people who got quickly hitched only to realise that they were incompatible. Another investor described TPG’s involvement as “choking the company to death”. “We actively supported Vice throughout our investment and despite not controlling the company, we worked tirelessly with its...