Gawker file for bankruptcy after Hulk Hogan sex tape ruling

Ziff Davis owns media brands such as PC Magazine, IGN and AskMen, among others.

Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is listed as the largest creditor in Gawker’s bankruptcy filing.

Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of NY.

Last month, pseudo scandal erupted when reporters revealed Hogan’s case was being bankrolled by conservative billionaire Peter Thiel as retribution for a 2007 Gawker article that outed him publicly.

“There’s a tremendous fit between the two organisations, from brands to audience to monetisation”, said a spokesman for Ziff Davis. However, GMG will hold an auction where bidders can out-price Ziff Davis’ offer, which is set below $100,000.

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

Denton refuses to apologize for posting Hogan’s sex tape and says Thiel’s campaign against the company will set a unsafe precedent for journalism.

The legal brawl between Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media is entering another round. Hogan argued in court that it was a violation of his privacy, and a Florida jury awarded him $55 million for economic injuries and $65 million for emotional distress. Ziff Davis agreed to pay around $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the pricing isn’t public.

The 14-year-old Gawker group had 44.4 million unique visitors in April across its seven websites, which include Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Jalopnik and Jezebel, according to data provider comScore Inc.

Denton said they would appeal the ruling.

Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, about three months after Hogan won a lawsuit against the online gossip and news publisher.

The filing (which you can read here via Poynter), which came with the U.S. Southern District of NY, is the latest, and widely expected, development in the years-long battle against Hulk Hogan, and later, tech billionaire Peter Thiel.

He added that funding the Hogan lawsuit was “one of my greater philanthropic things that I’ve done”.

Hogan says, Gawker chose the wrong guy! Besides that, they have also published other posts critical of Thiel. “While many of us disagreed with Gawker’s news judgment in this case, and many are ambivalent about Gawker itself, the issue here was a billionaire’s use and potential abuse of the legal process to drain a journalism outlet’s resources”.