http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/10/11904728/gawker-media-files-for-bankruptcy

TL;DR - Apparently a guy who made alot of money from Paypal waged a personal war against Gawker Media once they reported on his sexuality. The company has assets of 100M but owes 500M!

Gawker Media files for bankruptcy
By Russell Brandom on June 10, 2016 12:58 pm Email @russellbrandom


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Gawker Media has filed for bankruptcy, according to documents filed today in Southern District of New York Bankruptcy Court. The filing lists the company's assets as between $50 and $100 million, with liabilities as high as $500 million.

The company's finances are still reeling from a judge's ruling in March that fined the company $140 million for publishing a video of Hulk Hogan having sex. While still subject to appeal, that ruling required the company to present a $50 million bond, a sum that significantly exceeded the company's cash reserves.

The lawsuit was later revealed to be part of a larger punitive legal campaign against the company, secretly funded by Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel has admitted to funding the lawsuits as a general campaign against the publication, a decision he came to after a 2006 incident in which a Gawker publication reported on his sexuality. In an interview with The New York Times, Thiel referred to the campaign against Gawker as "one of the best things I've done."

It is still unclear what effect this filing will have on the company's future operations. Legally, the filing will trigger a public auction for ownership of the company's assets, although founder Nick Denton has pledged to continue Gawker's legal fights and publishing operations. According to a Recode report, the company is actively seeking buyers. Publisher Ziff Davis has reportedly offered to buy the company outright for $100 million, although the deal is far from final.

Gawker publications have a long history of often controversial muckraking, breaking stories on The Silk Road, Manti T'eo, and ideological biases in Facebook's Trending Topics module. A number of pundits have raised concerns about the possible chilling effects of Thiel's campaign, including Margaret Sullivan of The Washington Post. "When a vindictive billionaire can muscle his way into a lawsuit with the intention of putting a media company out of business," Sullivan wrote, "there’s reason to worry."

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

I hope that dude gets TMZ'd doing some real dirtbag shit.

Interesting perspective on Thiel's proxy war with the media:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-peter-thiels-gawker-battle-could-open-a-war-against-the-press?

I think what Thiel is doing is pretty dangerous for free speech, but Gawker has made a name for itself by completely disregarding a major journalistic ethical code: minimize harm.

-30-
You know it's drama, but it sound real good.

Gawker did bring the Hogan case on themselves, but media companies being silenced does do more harm to the notion of speech across the society than the obvious pain this guy felt because of Gawker's story.

Spec-fiction books of the past dealt with Government silencing of the media. The real life problem turned out to be some rich guy who carried a grudge.

Really troubling.

<--- Me when my head hits the pillow

fuck him in the ass with a rusty drill bit.

Deadspin, Kotaku, to a certain extent Jezebel and i09 and I can't see what harm Jalopnik poses to anyone... they have their dark, shady dealings but I really enjoy their aesthetic and the way they cover the reporting of other, more reputable news sources. I'm sure there are other sites that attempt to both break news and, for lack of a better term, attempt to be ombudsman for the rest of the news, but I find the way Gawker does it to be really appealing.


Except when it's not. They should have never published the video of Hogan, the transcripts were enough and they had the video to prove it was accurate behind closed doors should anyone come knocking. The world didn't need to see that; I still haven't.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

the thing I enjoyed about both Jalopnik, and especially Jezebel and Deadspin is how their headlines, while in so many ways clickbait, were written how people actually speak -- a finger in the eye of the mainstream media. Kotaku didn't really do it that much, but I enjoyed them because they were a finger in the eye of some other "status quo" entities as well

the actual Gawker site I didn't really read all that much unless it got shared on Twitter or something, but its spinoffs were fire.

Yes, I'm mad. Let's move on.

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