Gawker.com to shut down next week
Gawker.com, the flagship blog of Gawker Media, will shut down Monday after 14 years of operation, a dramatic coda for a feisty newsroom unable to survive a $140 million judgment from an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit.
The decision comes two days after Univision Communications agreed to buy Gawker Media’s assets — for its six other blogs — for $135 million in a bankruptcy auction held Tuesday. Univision won after outbidding a $131 million bid from digital publisher Ziff Davis.
Gawker Media and its founder and CEO, Nick Denton, filed for bankruptcy protection after a Florida jury decided in March that Gawker.com violated Hulk Hogan's privacy when it published a sex tape of the former pro wrestler having sex with the wife of a friend.
A bankruptcy court in New York, which had to review any deals for Gawker's assets, considered Univision's bid at a hearing Thursday afternoon and gave its approval to proceed with the deal.
"Sadly, neither I nor Gawker.com, the buccaneering flagship of the group I built with my colleagues, are coming along for this next stage," Denton wrote in a note to staffers.
The closure of Gawker.com, known for its snarky and pugnacious coverage of politicians, celebrities and media personalities, will be cheered by some of its critics as a satisfying comeuppance for a blog that not only didn't pull punches but sometimes aimed below the belt. Others, including media advocates, interpret it as a chilling sign of the threat to the First Amendment posed by third-party-funded lawsuits.
"The outcome of the Gawker case is a real hard slap from the judicial system, and it’s troubling," said Chuck Tobin, a media and libel attorney at Holland & Knight.
Hogan demanded that Gawker Media pull the sex tape and sued in 2012 after his request was rebuffed. It was later revealed that his lawsuit was funded by Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire who was the subject of a salacious article on Gawker.com's then-sister site Valleywag — “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.” Thiel spent about $10 million to keep the lawsuit alive, The New York Timesreported.
Even though it generates more than 14 million visitors a month, Gawker.com's legal liability over the Hogan story proved to be too daunting for Univision and other bidders. "Desirable though the other properties are, we have not been able to find a single media company or investor willing also to take on Gawker.com," Denton said. "The campaign being mounted against its editorial ethos and former writers has made it too risky. I can understand the caution."
Staffers of Gawker.com, who will be retained and reassigned by Univision after the acquisition, were informed by Denton on Thursday afternoon. Plans for Gawker.com's archives have not been finalized, it reported.
Univision couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
How Gawker's blogs will fit into Univison's digital future
The six surviving Gawker Media blogs will be rolled into Univision's digital media business unit, called Fusion Media. They include the company's most popular site, Gizmodo, which covers technology, as well as Lifehacker (tips), Deadspin (sports), Jezebel (women’s interests), Kotaku (gaming) and Jalopnik (cars).
A large portion of the sales proceeds will be used to pay for about $40 million of Gawker Media's secured debt, and $3.7 million to Davis for a breakup fee, says Jude Gorman, general counsel of news and data firm Reorg Research.