![]() ![]() “We are encouraged by the agreement with Ziff Davis, one of the most rigorously managed and profitable companies in digital media,” Denton said. Ziff Davis owns a number of tech and gaming publications, including PC Magazine and IGN. Gawker, which also owns Jezebel and Gizmodo, will be put up for auction with bidding starting at about $100m following interest from digital publisher Ziff Davis LLC. Our sites will thrive - under new ownership - and we'll win in court.- Nick Denton June 10, 2016 “Our sites will thrive – under new ownership – and we’ll win in court.”Įven with his billions, Thiel will not silence our writers. ![]() “Even with his billions, Thiel will not silence our writers,” he said on Twitter. Thiel said funding the lawsuit was one of the “greater philanthropic things that I’ve done”, and said he would further lawsuits brought people who said their lives had ben ruined by Gawker.ĭenton, who is also gay, said he would continue to fight back and would not allow Thiel to silence Gawker’s writers. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest … I thought it was worth fighting back.” “It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” Thiel told the New York Times. Thiel said he had funded Hogan’s legal costs to the tune of about $10m. Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and a early investor in Facebook, said he had secretly funded a team of lawyers to track down “victims” of Gawker and help fund their lawsuits against the company. It was revealed last month that billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel had been funding Hogan’s legal costs as part of his latest attempt to close down the website, which outed him as being gay in 2007 with the headline: “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.” A jury later awarded him $25m more in punitive damages. If the judgment is overturned on appeal, then the money held in escrow will be returned to Denton and the company’s other shareholders.In March, a Florida jury awarded $115m in damages to Hogan, more than the $100m he had demanded for the violation of his privacy over the publication of a sex tape involving him and the wife of a good friend. If the $140.1 million judgment is upheld on appeal, then the money held in escrow will go to Hogan. The money for the sale will be put in escrow while Gawker appeals the Hogan case. Gawker plans to continue operating while it proceeds with the auction and fights off the legal challenge from Hogan, according to Politico: Our sites will thrive - under new ownership - and we'll win in court. A combination would marry Ziff Davis’ strength in e-commerce, licensing and video with GMG’s premium media brands.ĭenton was defiant on Twitter shortly after news of the sale broke:Įven with his billions, Thiel will not silence our writers. We are encouraged by the agreement with Ziff Davis, one of the most rigorously managed and profitable companies in digital media. In a statement, Gawker Founder Nick Denton said the company was “encouraged” by the prospect of its sale to Ziff Davis. Gawker has said that it expects to ultimately prevail. ![]() Proceeds from a sale will go into a fund to finance further litigation costs and cover whatever damages may ultimately be leveled following the appeals process, which could take years to resolve. The case could “take years to resolve,” according to The Wall Street Journal: The bankruptcy and sale are intended as a bulwark against a raft of lawsuits launched against Gawker Media on behalf of Peter Thiel, the billionaire PayPal founder who’s bankrolling multiple cases against the company with the intent to snuff it out. Gawker Media will now be put up for auction, with a $100 million offer from publisher Ziff Davis LLC as the opening bid. Gawker has told it employees it still plans to fight the Thiel/Hogan case and to operate its publishing business while it does so. Gawker and owner Nick Denton are making the Chapter 11 filing today, in order to avoid paying Thiel and Hulk Hogan the $140 million judgement they won in Hogan’s privacy trial earlier this year. The filing is a maneuver intended to prevent Hulk Hogan - the ex-professional wrestler who earlier this year won a $140-million-plus invasion-of-privacy judgment against Gawker Media - from collecting his bounty, according to Recode’s Peter Kafka: Gawker Media, the pioneering digital media company beset by legal entanglements fueled by a Silicon Valley billionaire, filed for bankruptcy this afternoon. ![]()
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