And in a weird twist to the story, billionaire Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel has admitted to the New York Times that he secretly financed Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit (and others) against Gawker Media in an effort to put the news website out of business.
Advertisement
Thiel’s issue with Gawker dates back to 2007, when the now-defunct Gawker Media blog, Valleywag, published a story titled “Peter Thiel is Totally Gay, People”, which revealed several professional and personal details of Thiel’s life.
Denton’s letter is a direct response to Thiel’s recent New York Times interview in which he proudly took credit for stealth funding various lawsuits against Gawker, with the explicit objective of bringing down the digital publisher.
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai, who is suing over a story in which Gawker mocked his claim to have invented email, initially told CNNMoney that Thiel was not involved in his case.
In an interview with the Times, Thiel said it’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence. Gawker appealed for a new trial but a Florida judge denied the appeal, which brings us to today, when Denton is said to be pondering whether to sell the business in order to keep it afloat.
News reports say pro wrestler Hulk Hogan’s legal battle against Gawker has been secretly backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel.
Thiel told the New York Times late Wednesday he has provided around $10 million for the litigation by former wrestler Hulk Hogan, who sued Gawker Media for releasing a sex tape featuring Hogan and a friend’s wife.
Secretive third-party financings of lawsuits can put media companies at a disadvantage during litigation, said Peter Scheer, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, in an interview Tuesday.
Hogan and Gawker were back in a Florida court Wednesday. Instead of settling, with Thiel’s financial backing the plaintiffs’ held out and took the cases to court.
Gawker is counting on the verdict to be overturned on appeal and has not said whether it can afford the full $140 million.
“I didn’t really want to do anything”, he said.
The company has fielded interest from a few parties but the sales process is in the early stages, one of the people said, asking not to be named because the matter is confidential.
In April, Bloomberg reported that Univision was aiming for an IPO in the second half of the year that could raise as much as $1 billion.
Meanwhile, Thiel is also bankrolling other lawsuits against Gawker.
Indeed, Gawker Media generated only .7 million in revenue in 2015.
Advertisement
“Thiel’s tactics in going after Gawker are very, very frightening for anybody who believes in freedom of speech; they’re also extremely effective, in an evil-genius kind of way”, Salmon wrote.
