Univision buys bankrupt Gawker for $135 million
- 8 years ago
NEW YORK — Univision won the auction for Gawker Media on Tuesday. The media company agreed to pay $135 million for Nick Denton’s blog network. Univision’s offer includes all seven of Gawker Media’s sites, according to Recode.
Univision won the bidding war for Gawker Media in an auction that had two bidders, Univision, and IGN publisher Ziff Davis, which offered $90 million.
Denton and Gawker filed for bankruptcy after Hulk Hogan won a $140 million judgement in a defamation case over Gawker’s publishing of Hogan’s sex tape.
Hogan's lawsuit was secretly bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who Gawker outed as gay in a 2009 article titled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”
The lawsuit was designed not to maximize Hogan's potential award but to circumvent Gawker’s insurance in order to bankrupt Denton.
In a statement, Denton said: “Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America’s largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences. I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership — disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism."
Denton will no longer be involved with Gawker under Univision, a source told the Wall Street Journal.
Univision won the bidding war for Gawker Media in an auction that had two bidders, Univision, and IGN publisher Ziff Davis, which offered $90 million.
Denton and Gawker filed for bankruptcy after Hulk Hogan won a $140 million judgement in a defamation case over Gawker’s publishing of Hogan’s sex tape.
Hogan's lawsuit was secretly bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who Gawker outed as gay in a 2009 article titled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”
The lawsuit was designed not to maximize Hogan's potential award but to circumvent Gawker’s insurance in order to bankrupt Denton.
In a statement, Denton said: “Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America’s largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences. I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership — disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism."
Denton will no longer be involved with Gawker under Univision, a source told the Wall Street Journal.