Gawker.com is shutting down.
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After almost fourteen years of business, Gawker.com will be closed next week, and its founder Nick Denton will have to leave due to a non-compete agreement with Univision.The news portal staff -eleven writers and editors working full-time- apparently will be assigned to the other six websites that are part of Gawker Media or elsewhere within Univision.
Gawker.com, the flagship site of Gawker Media, will be shutting down operations next week, as the other sites in the company are in the process of being sold to Univision.
Univision was bidding against the internet company Ziff Davis in a bankruptcy auction. The post was widely criticized for invading the executive’s privacy, and Gawker took it down, with founder Nick Denton publishing a statement about it.
And while Gawker appeals the $140 million judgment, it is simultaneously dealing with several other lawsuits, which it has claimed are also being financed by Thiel.
Media firm Univision agreed to buy Gawker Media for $135m (£103m) at a bankruptcy auction. Gawker has created their fair share of enemies over there, including Thiel, who the site outed a few years ago, which may have been a reason why he financially backed the Hulkster.
In a memo to staff, Denton said Gawker’s bloggers “have introduced a new style of journalism, sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes snarky, but always authentic”, CNBC reported. Media reports had said, including one on Gawker.com itself, that the site’s fate was unclear.
Here are some of the biggest – and most notorious – stories during Gawker’s almost 14-year tenure.
The whole fiasco between Hulk, real name Terry Bollea, and Gawker, began way back in 2012, when the website published a segment of a sex tape between Bollea and a friend’s wife.
As for Gawker.com, the site’s reputation was viewed as irreparably damaged by the fallout from losing an invasion of privacy lawsuit to former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. The closure notice implies Gawker’s other entities – Deadspin, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Jalopnik and Jezebel – will not be scrapped.
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And other Gawker Media blogs will live on. Gawker founder, Nick Denton, a former Financial Times journalist, also filed for personal bankruptcy.
