Gawker ends long dispute that led to bankruptcy
IN FIGHTING a lawsuit filed by the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, Gawker Media lost nearly everything – the verdict, its founder, its independence – but it maintained its resolute conviction that it would win on appeal.
On Wednesday, however, Gawker capitulated, settling with Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, for $31 million, according to court documents, and bringing to a close a multiyear dispute that stripped the company of much that once defined it.
Faced with a $140 million judgment in the invasion of privacy lawsuit brought by Hogan over the publication of a video that showed him having sex with a friend’s wife – and the later revelation that Peter Thiel, a billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was financing the lawsuit and others against the company – Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June and ultimately sold itself in August to Univision for $135 million.
The sale brought an end to the company’s independence, and Nick Denton, its founder and chief executive, left. Univision took down other Gawker articles that were involved in litigation. Gawker.com, which was at the centre of the Hulk Hogan lawsuit, was shut down. Gawker Media even lost its name – the sites that Univision acquired are now part of the Gizmodo Media Group.
All of these developments were viewed by some as the end of an era, and journalists – not just those who had worked at Gawker – published articles that often read like obituaries for a media company that had ushered in a certain style of irreverent, no-holds-barred journalism online.
Still, those at the company held on to a steadfast belief that it was in the right and that it would be vindicated on appeal. The fight became a symbol of press freedom, pitting a wealthy individual against a take-noprisoners news organisation.
But that fight ultimately proved too difficult to sustain.
“After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached,” Denton said in a blog post on Wednesday. “All-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight. Gawker’s nemesis was not going away.”
Denton did not respond to a request for further comment.
In May, Thiel, a founder of PayPal and one of the earliest investors in Facebook, said he was providing financial support for Bollea’s lawsuit, saying he was financing cases against Gawker because it published articles that “ruined people’s lives for no reason”. Thiel was outed as gay by Valleywag, one of Gawker’s now-defunct blogs, nearly a decade ago.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Thiel said, “It is a great day for Terry Bollea and a great day for everyone’s right to privacy.”
David Houston, a lawyer for Bollea, said in a statement of his own, “As with any negotiation for resolution, all parties have agreed it is time to move on.”
Some Gawker employees struck a more ominous tone and expressed outrage over what the decision could represent.
Gawker Media was not the only casua lt y. Denton, who was also a defendant in the lawsuit, f i led for persona l bankruptcy in August, saying, “I don’t have that kind of money lying around.” Bollea’s lawyers also pursued money from a not her defenda nt, A lber t Daulerio, the former editor-inchief of Gawker.com.
The debtors have had settlement discussions with Denton though they have not reached a final agreement, according to the court documents filed on Wednesday.
Gawker Media also settled two other lawsuits, according to the documents – with Shiva Ayyadurai over a 2012 article about a claim that he invented email, and with journalist Ashley Terrill over a 2015 article about her efforts to uncover information about a former Tinder executive. Those articles, as well as the one involving Bollea, will be removed from the internet as part of the deal between the sides.