On the media, Denton sees an unfortunate shrinking influence, even with the big media companies battling against president Trump. He meant that as long as the legal process is convoluted and extremely expensive, even the middle rich can’t win, and that even if you win a suit, you don’t get your costs back. He also paraphrased Thiel, who said a single digit millionaire couldn’t really get justice in this country (actual quote: “If you’re a single-digit millionaire like Hulk Hogan, you have no effective access to our legal system.”). He also said that settling with Thiel before the election was wise, since with the new US administration, he is now more powerful than ever. “You always want the focus to be on your antagonist,” he said, in reference to Thiele being behind the scenes. “They didn’t like us at all.”Īs for Thiel, Denton understands why he came after Gawker through his money and influence. “The meta point is worth making,” he said, but stated that he was clueless about the jury in Florida, who saw New York media elitism. He said the point was to learn more about ourselves, what are our own habits and curiosities, but said it was too sophisticated a point, and the story was essentially packaging a sex video. If you’re going to expose somebody to mockery, there has to be a point to it,” he admitted. The appeals court thought it was OK…the circuit court didn’t. “That story was clearly close to the line. He does acknowledge that the story that got him in trouble probably was a bit too controversial, though he still stands by his efforts. You would think that would leave Denton with his tail between his legs, but quite the opposite. Gawker has since shuttered and Univision snapped up its remaining network of websites for $135m. Conservative billionaire Peter Thiel capitalized on the opportunity to hit back at Gawker after it outed him with the headline “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people,” and funneled $10m to help Hogan fund the legal battering ram that eventually led to the company’s downfall. In 2012 the company published a sex tape featuring wrestler Hulk Hogan, who subsequently threatened to sue. The site was known for its sensational, and some would say sensationalistic, including Denton, news stories. “Let’s face it - do we think that Bustle or Nylon Magazine is going to pick a petty and ill-conceived fight with a deca-billionaire? Probably not.Denton founded – which later became Gawker Media with seven websites – in 2002. “If there is one website that could get me sued into oblivion, then it is almost certainly Gawker,” Mr. Goldberg, the site’s owner, submitted himself to an email interview in a new series, “ How Much Money Do You Have?” While not answering the question directly, he did have some thoughts on how Gawker’s comeback could affect his fortune. ![]() The new Gawker website opened with coverage of celebrities (“ Do Justin and Hailey Bieber Hate Each Other?”), the universe (“ Space: The Lamest Frontier”) and Gawker itself (“ Here’s What Some People Think About Gawker Coming Back”). “I was also willing to do it, which not many people can say.” “I suppose my selling points as a potential editor in chief of Gawker were that I had previously worked at Gawker and Bustle and was unemployed,” Ms. Finnegan hired a team of 12, mostly women, including four contributing writers. Finnegan wrote that when approached to lead the site last year, she had said, “Absolutely no way in hell.”Ī second approach in January won her over. Bryan Goldberg, the chief executive of Bustle Digital Group, paid $1.35 million for the Gawker name at a bankruptcy auction in 2018. Denton departed, and the flagship site shut down. It was later revealed that the suit had been bankrolled by Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley investor who was angered by a Gawker post that reported, without his permission, that he is gay.Ī collection of Gawker Media sites that did not include was sold to Univision in 2016 for $135 million. ![]() In 2016, a judge ruled against the company in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit that concerned the publication of a sex video and that was brought by Hulk Hogan, the former professional wrestler, whose real name is Terry Bollea. ![]() Denton built Gawker Media, an online mini-empire that included sites dedicated to sports (Deadspin), tech (Gizmodo) and gaming (Kotaku). Gawker, which became synonymous with an irreverent style that all but defined digital media in the 2000s, was started by the journalist Nick Denton in 2002.
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