Gawker Media Group has filed for bankruptcy protection and is putting itself up for auction. It lost a $140 million legal judgement to wrestler Hulk Hogan. A statement from the company to CNBC about the bankruptcy filing reads: “The sale and filing are intended to preserve the value of GMG’s pioneering digital news business, safeguard the jobs of journalists and other staff, and allow GMG to fund the appeal against the $130 million judgment in the Hulk Hogan case.
The statement continues: Gawker Media Group is putting its properties up for sale after a coordinated barrage of lawsuits intended to put the company out of business and deter its writers from offering critical coverage.”
This filing came after a Florida jury handed Gawker Media Group a $115 million judgement stemming from an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Hogan. Gawker published a video of the wrestler having sex with the wife of a friend. Shortly thereafter, the jury added $25 million for punitive damages.
It was revealed late last month that tech billionaire Peter Thiel has been helping out with Hogan’s legal expenses. Some years earlier, a Gawker publication outed the billionaire as being gay.
According to bankruptcy court filings from New York, Gawker Media Group had assets ranging from $50 million to $100 million and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million. In preparation for the lawsuit with Hogan, Nick Denton, Gawker’s founder, said last year that his company could easily be worth $250 million to $300 million.
In May, a representative from Gawker told CNBC the company had already been having discussions with bankers as part of its contingency plan. One of the options provided was a sale. And today, the technology blog Recode has reported formal bids are being entertained to purchase Gawker Media. One person who’s supposedly interested is publisher Ziff Davis. According to Gawker, Davis is willing to buy the entire company for less than $100 million.
Gawker’s banker, Mark Patricof, has predicted that while it is in bankruptcy protection, Gawker Media Group will receive higher bids. This story is ongoing. Be sure to come back to CDL for all the updates pertaining to this story.