Gawker files for bankruptcy (Owner of Jezebel & Deadspin)

[Tay]

Online news site Gawker has filed for bankruptcy after losing a $140m (£97m) privacy case earlier this year.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection, which could allow it to avoid paying the damages.

In March, Gawker was ordered to pay wrestler Hulk Hogan for invading his privacy by publishing a sex tape.

Gawker told staff it still planned to appeal against the ruling and would continue to operate, but it was now accepting offers to buy the site.

Gawker said it had been forced to put itself up for sale because of "a co-ordinated barrage of lawsuits intended to put the company out of business and deter its writers from offering critical coverage".

Publisher Ziff Davis, owner of PC magazine and Geek.com, has already made an offer to buy all of Gawker's assets, reportedly for less than $100m.

In a statement Gawker's founder Nick Denton said: "We are encouraged by the agreement with Ziff Davis."

The company does, however, plan to consider other offers as it goes through the bankruptcy process.

Last year Mr Denton estimated Gawker Media, which owns the sites Jezebel and Deadspin, was worth between $250m and $300m.

In its official filing Gawker said it had $50m to $100m in assets and between $100m and $500m in liabilities.

[..]

In a twist revealed after the trial, Mr Hogan's legal bills were paid by PayPal co-founder and tech billionaire Peter Thiel.

Mr Thiel, said he wanted to curb Gawker's "bullying". In 2007 Mr Thiel clashed with Gawker after the site published an article that outed him as gay.

Mr Denton told the BBC Mr Thiel should accept that his position means he should face public scrutiny.

"If you're a billionaire and you have power and access to the media, you should expect now and then to get the occasional critical piece," said Mr Denton.

"A wiser approach to getting angry and trying to sue a media company out of existence is to ... develop a thicker skin," he added.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36503455
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There is no doubt this will send shockwaves throughout the media world, and will make them a tad-bit more cautious when clashing with someone that could financially ruin them.

 

[CCarter]

I'll say it, The only reason people were hating on Peter Thiel is because he's a billionaire and can exact revenge on those that have wronged him. If Peter Thiel was a making $100,000 a year and got outted by Gawker everyone would be siding with him if it came out he supported the lawsuit, but the one small fact that he has more money than almost everyone else somehow "changes" who the "victim" is.

2 or 3 commas all of a sudden you are the bad guy.

 

[built]

I cant imagine what it must feel like to lose everything you worked for

 

[Potatoe]

I can't stand gawker or any of their brands for that matter. Respect for what they built absolutly and I've used them as an example of something to strive towards in certain ways, but they're always the ones who are calling everyone else out for things that they do, too. They're huge hypocrites who are always on this high horse, so I can't imagine anyone is too sad to hear this news. They forgot where their place was, they poked the bear, and they got mauled. If they just had a little more self-awareness and didn't act like they're some bastion of journalism, I'd have a little more empathy I think.

Either way, this whole story has been such a shit show from the beginning, I kept asking myself "Is this real life?!"

Peter is a gangster. Funds a lawsuit for THE HULKSTER to take down Gawker because they were shitty to him (outing someone like that seems like something they'd be against based on some of the things they seem to advocate on Jezebel and elsewhere, but I guess it's okay for them to cross lines to get clicks - just as long as nobody else does it.)

This must benefit Poppa Petey in more ways than just revenge, maybe he'll even be able to snap up some of their properties if they're auctioned off - wouldn't that be something.

 

[miketpowell]

I cant imagine what it must feel like to lose everything you worked for

The lesson for anyone here is to realize that you piss off the wrong person you might just lose everything. This industry is full of cocky outlandish people that don't realize how easily they could lose everything.

Yesterday I saw the YouTube video some decent sized channel did about how Google is helping Hillary win the election in sneaky ways. I wonder if they realize that Google could just delete their entire channel in a month or 2 and they would have literally zero recourse and Google wouldn't care one bit.

The moment you start thinking that no one can touch you is the moment you start doing stupid things that can cost you everything.

This case is also very interesting from a legal standpoint as well. The fact that he did not have the bandanna on while he was having sex in the video become a key point of showing that it wasn't a video of "Hulk Hogan" who is a public figure but instead the private life of the actor that plays the character.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Gawker said it had been forced to put itself up for sale because of "a co-ordinated barrage of lawsuits intended to put the company out of business and deter its writers from offering critical coverage".

How about don't piss off a ton of multi-millionaires and billionaires?

This is right back to the 6th grade. If you can't handle it, don't dish it out. If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. They had dollar signs in their eyes every time they got the chance to break some drama, not even news. They forgot about repercussions of being a smut magazine instead of journalists.

 

[contract]

Sex tapes and outing people's personal life (sexual preferences)...

It's no better than the revenge sites.

But somehow Gawker is a victim, LOL.

In the grand scheme of things..

It's a business, they can get sued into the ground and bail out, then build another.

No one ever focuses on the $$$$ people took out of it.

Is Nick Denton going to be sleeping on a park bench? No.

I cant imagine what it must feel like to lose everything you worked for

Lose everything?

Smart business men pocket cash over the years.

Foolish ones try to cash everything all out at the end.

Regardless of what happens, people are still walking away with their belly full.

 

[miketpowell]

@contract - Did you miss the part where Nick Denton has a $10 million in punitive damages judgement against him personally as part of the suit?

He probably won't be sleeping on a park bench but this certainly has ruined him finance wise for now.

That's another important lesson for people here thinking their single member LLC is going to do shit to protect them from liability on getting sued. If you have a LLC for liability protection but no business insurance you are doing it very wrong.

 

[RomesFall]

Glad really, these guys are finally getting what they deserve.

Hopefully it will resonate across the media sites that are doing the same kind of shit and result in some gradual changes for the better.

 

[turbin3]

At this point, "media" such as them have become little more than vultures ravaging the rotting corpse of journalism. Considering the moral and ethical lows many involved with that company (and its peers) have regularly stooped to for years, I gladly take pleasure in their failure. In all things, there is eventually a reckoning. One more blow struck against propaganda. It will be interesting to see how it turns out, and whether the buyer simply repackages and reinvigorates the propaganda machine.

^If any of that sounds cryptic, read up a bit more about gamergate vs. gawker, GameJournoPros, and some of the other insanity with all of that. Man, there's something just not right when even MF'in video games aren't safe. Is nothing sacred anymore?! LOL This is a good place to start: http://www.deepfreeze.it/index.php

 

[Stephen]

It is karma at work!

 

[finnegan]

I can't stand gawker or any of their brands for that matter...

Same here. I wish Jezebel and the commie-feminists that work for them would also disappear.