Gawker.com, the flagship website of Gawker Media, will be shut down next week after a court order to pay $140 million to retired wrestling star Hulk Hogan over a sex tape drove the company to bankruptcy.
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“Nick Denton, the company’s outgoing CEO, informed current staffers of the site’s fate on Thursday afternoon”, a post on the site reads. Gawker.com’s archives will still be available, Denton said in a memo to employees.
The decision to shut down Gawker.com comes two days after Univision won the bankruptcy auction to acquire Gawker Media for $135 million (£102 million).
Univision outbid Ziff Davis, its only rival in an auction for Gawker Media’s assets, on Tuesday.
The closure of Gawker.com, known for its snarky and pugnacious coverage of politicians, celebrities and media personalities, will be cheered by some of its critics as a swift comeuppance for a blog that not only didn’t pull punches but overextended them.
The company has not revealed exactly what day Gawker.com will go offline, but it will be before August 25.
The cost of the lawsuit was partly funded by Peter Thiel whom Gawker had outed back in 2007.
We have not been able to find a single media company or investor willing also to take on Gawker.com.
Thiel, a major conservative donor, revealed in May that he was bankrolling Hogan’s fight against Gawker Media.
Gawker.com said in its post that staffers will be assigned to other editorial roles at one of the six other sites or at Univision.
In 2012, Gawker.com published a video of Hulk Hogan having sex with the wife of a friend.
Thiel recently defended his actions in a New York Times op-ed, arguing that “the defense of privacy in the digital age is an ongoing cause” and that “whatever good work” Gawker has done “will continue in the future”.
Even if the appeals court overturns this spring’s Florida jury verdict, Peter Thiel has already achieved many of his objectives.
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Gawker’s writers were originally anxious about the future of Gawker.com after Univision made it known that they had a place under their conglomeration for Kotaku, Gizmodo, Jezebel and Jalopnik but made no mention of Gawker.com.
