While Leitch declined, he also wrote up a proposal for a sports site based on the Hollywood site Defamer. That landed Leitch an offer from Gawker head Nick Denton to run a gambling-oriented site. (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York and Jared Leone in St.Leitch was covering the financial services industry (“poorly”, he says) in New York when he started a site called The Black Table with Eric Gillin (now the chief budget officer at Condé Nast), Aileen Gallagher (now a journalism professor at Syracuse University) and AJ Daulerio. Bollea's privacy whether it be in the bankruptcy court or any other court." Univision, which is expanding aggressively in digital media, had previously been cited as a possible suitor.Ī spokesman for Peter Thiel declined to comment on Gawker's bankruptcy filing.ĭavid Houston, an attorney for Hogan, said: "We have every intention to continue to pursue our judgment against Gawker and to hold them accountable for violating Mr. It was not clear on Friday what other bidders might emerge. "We look forward to the possibility of adding these great brands - and the talented people who support them - to the Ziff Davis family." "There's a tremendous fit between the two organizations, from brands to audience to monetization," said a spokesman for Ziff Davis. Once a powerful technology trade publisher, the company went through bankruptcy of its own in 2008 and now produces consumer technology websites include AskMen, Computer Shopper and. Its eagerness to dish salacious gossip was often condemned, but it was also one of the few early digital publishers to build a profitable independent business.Īlong with its flagship Gawker site, Gawker Media also publishes consumer websites Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Kotaku, Jalopnik, Deadspin and Jezebel.ĭenton said in a prepared statement that he was "encouraged" by the agreement from Ziff Davis, which itself has a long and rocky history. Gawker and Denton were influential forces in the development of online media, developing a direct, conversational and sometimes-slashing style that dispensed with many journalistic conventions and was widely imitated. The company posted revenues of $49.9 million in 2015, according to the documents, and has grown at a compound annual rate of 24 percent over the past 3 years. The lawsuit states that Denton could be forced to file for personal bankruptcy if the lawsuits against him personally are allowed to proceed.ĭenton owns about 30 percent of Gawker, according to the lawsuit. Gawker filed a separate lawsuit in bankruptcy court on Friday asking the judge to extend the bankruptcy court protections to Denton, Daulerio and other former and current Gawker employees. Gawker objected to having Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, hold the collateral and proposed a different arrangement, which the judge rejected. The judge agreed to postpone payment of the $140 million judgment while Gawker pursued its appeal, but required the defendants to put up their shares of the company as collateral to be held by Hogan's lawyers. Petersburg, Florida on Friday, Gawker said it had just $5.3 million in cash on hand and faced massive legal bills. Gawker has vowed to appeal the verdict, and legal experts believe the company has a good chance of eventually having the award thrown out or reduced. The jury then added another $25 million in punitive damages. In March, a six-person jury awarded $60 million to Hogan, 62, for emotional distress and $55 million for economic damages. Daulerio of violating his privacy by publishing a one minute, 41-second edited video clip featuring Hogan having sex with the wife of his then-best friend, the radio shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. Hogan's lawsuit accused Gawker, Denton and former Gawker editor A.J. "Our sites will thrive - under new ownership - and we'll win in court." "Even with his billions, Thiel will not silence our writers," Gawker founder and Chief Executive Nick Denton said on Twitter. Media company Ziff Davis LLC has entered an agreement to buy Gawker's assets for a little less than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter, but that may be only the initial bid in a court-supervised auction likely to take place at the end of July. Gawker vowed to continue operating its seven websites during the bankruptcy process. media circles over the prospect of wealthy individuals using the courts to muzzle the press. Thiel's involvement, which stemmed from his ire over Gawker's writings about him and his friends in Silicon Valley, raised alarm bells in U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |