IN THE SLIMELIGHT
Gizmodo bidders wary of sites trashing them
Not only is Gizmodo Media losing money, its snarky news and gossip sites may trash you if you buy them.
That’s the bizarre dilemma prospective bidders face as broadcasting giant Univision looks to sell the owner of news sites once controlled by the now-defunct Gawker empire.
Private equity firm Great Hill Partners is the latest buyer to look into acquiring the group, which owns humor site The Onion, Gizmodo, Jezebel and Deadspin.
That has Gizmodo staffers blasting the private equity firm as a “chop shop,” referring to layoffs at Mashable after Great Hill’s Ziff Media acquired it in 2017, insiders said.
Gizmodo Media staffers are also digging into the personal life — and Tinder profile — of Bustle Digital Group Chief Executive Officer Bryan Goldberg, who has bid to buy select sites, The Post has learned.
Even Univision was a target when writers penned “Univision Is A F**king Mess” for its “Special Projects Desk” in May — two months before it put Gizmodo on the block.
Gizmodo’s track record of skewering owners is scaring away bidders, said sources, who noted it could attract more buyers if Univision would rein in an editorial independence provision in Gizmodo’s union contract.
“I specifically think about the post their Special Projects Desk did on Univision as the sort of thing that makes the whole place feel toxic,” a digital media CEO who mulled an acquisition said.
Univision has until March 1 to renegotiate a union contract that leaves all editorial decisions to writers and editors and demands stories be killed by committee.
“Once a story has been posted, it can only be removed by a majority vote of the executive editor, the CEO and the general counsel,” the contract reads. “The union will be consulted before this editorial policy is changed.”
The provision is a vestige of Nick Denton’s Gawker and figured in a 2015 scandal involving the alleged sex-capades of a Condé Nast exec.
Top lieutenants voted 4-2 to pull the Condé Nast exposé after it was blasted for aiding a gay porn star’s blackmail effort. A year later, Gawker filed for bankruptcy tied to a separate story it ran about a Hulk Hogan sex tape.
Last week, Univision said Gizmodo’s sites lost $32.5 million in the fourth quarter. The unit brings in $80 million a year, sources said.
Great Hill is most interested in Gizmodo and Lifehacker and could close or sell Deadspin, Jezebel and gossip site Splinter, sources said.
Those sites could end up with Goldberg, who has been waiting in the wings since his meeting with Univision’s banker was abruptly canceled.
As The Post exclusively reported last month, Goldberg‘s group of investors submitted a $30 million-to-$40 million bid to buy Gizmodo sites Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezebel, despite having been skewered by the group as a “frat boy,” a “f- -k boss” in stories.
Sources said Goldberg is the target of a campaign led by Gizmodo Media Editorial Director Susie Banikarim, who recently told The Post her scribes are investigating him.
Goldberg “would not buy GMG without the full support of the union,” a rep said.
Univision declined to comment on union negotiations except to say that “they are proceeding in good faith.”
Neither Great Hill nor Gizmodo Media responded.