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Gawker and Hulk Hogan Reach $31 Million Settlement Gawker and Hulk Hogan Reach $31 Million Settlement
(about 3 hours later)
Gawker Media, which filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit brought by the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, has settled the case, bringing to a close a multiyear saga that led to the demise of the company as an independent news organization. Gawker Media, which filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit brought by the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, settled the case on Wednesday, bringing to a close a multiyear dispute that led to the demise of the company as an independent news organization.
The settlement, which court documents indicate is for $31 million, comes less than eight months after a jury awarded Mr. Hogan, whose real name is Terry G. Bollea, $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy case lawsuit over Gawker.com’s publication of a video that showed Mr. Bollea having sex with a friend’s wife. Gawker will forgo its appeal of that judgment. Court documents indicate the settlement is for $31 million. Less than eight months ago, a Florida jury awarded the wrestler, whose real name is Terry G. Bollea, $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy lawsuit over Gawker.com’s publication of a video that showed Mr. Bollea having sex with a friend’s wife. Gawker will forgo its appeal of that judgment.
The significant financial pressure from the judgment — and the revelation that Peter Thiel, the billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was financing the lawsuit and others against the company — forced Gawker to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and sell itself through an auction, which Univision won in August with a bid of $135 million. Known for its wry, conversational tone and willingness to push the boundaries of internet journalism, Gawker had remained defiant throughout the legal process and had expressed confidence that it would overturn the verdict on appeal. But the significant financial pressure from the judgment — and the revelation later that Peter Thiel, the billionaire Silicon Valley entrepreneur, was financing the lawsuit and others against the company — forced Gawker to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
“After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached,” Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, said in a blog post. Gawker Media put itself up for sale at auction, which Univision won in August with a bid of $135 million.
“After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached,” Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
”All-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight,” Mr. Denton added. “Gawker’s nemesis was not going away.””All-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight,” Mr. Denton added. “Gawker’s nemesis was not going away.”
Mr. Denton did not disclose the financial details of the settlement. As part of the deal between the sides, three Gawker.com articles will be removed from the internet, including the one involving Mr. Hogan. In May, Mr. Thiel, a founder of PayPal and one of the first investors in Facebook, acknowledged in an interview with The New York Times that he was providing financial support for Mr. Bollea’s lawsuit, saying he was financing cases against Gawker because it published articles that “ruined people’s lives for no reason.” Mr. Thiel was outed as gay by Valleywag, one of Gawker’s now-defunct blogs, nearly a decade ago.
“As with any negotiation for resolution, all parties have agreed it is time to move on,” David Houston, a lawyer for Mr. Hogan, said in a statement. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Mr. Thiel said: “It is a great day for Terry Bollea and a great day for everyone’s right to privacy.”
The settlement will most likely revive a long-simmering debate about press freedom that Gawker’s demise has stoked.
There had been murmurings for months of a potential settlement between Gawker and Mr. Bollea, but even in the weeks leading up to its sale, Gawker maintained its typical swagger, hosting parties — one at a burlesque club in downtown New York — and publishing articles as part of a “senior week” in August that seemed both to be a collection of pie-in-the-sky stories and a reminder of its brashness.
Founded in 2002, Gawker became a go-to site for New York media gossip and a magnet for young journalists who would later go on to work at places like The New Yorker, The Awl and The New York Times. Mr. Denton was widely known for saying journalists shared their most interesting stories at the bar after work, and his mission was to guide those stories onto his sites — to entertain and surprise their readers with information that traditional news organizations often shied away from.
When Univision won the auction for Gawker in August, it was regarded by some as the end of an era, and journalists — not just those who had worked at Gawker — published articles that often read like obituaries. The sites that Univision acquired are now under a new umbrella — Gizmodo Media Group.
As part of the deal between the sides, three Gawker articles will be removed from the internet, including the one involving Mr. Hogan.
“As with any negotiation for resolution,” David Houston, a lawyer for Mr. Hogan, said in a statement, “all parties have agreed it is time to move on.”