As the company’s websites assailed tech giants like Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), and Facebook (FB) for byzantine schemes meant to reduce their tax burden, Gawker Media quietly played the same game. A Fortune investigation into Gawker Media’s finances reveals that though Denton is down, he is not out. A billionaire tech entrepreneur had managed to crush one of his industry’s most persistent critics. Thiel, an iconoclast who once described Gawker’s Valleywag website as “the Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda,” had won. (Gawker has appealed.) The sum was enough to force Gawker Media, and Denton, into bankruptcy. Three days later, on March 21, jurors tacked on another $25 million in punitive damages. In the courtroom, the foreman stood up and delivered a judicial body slam: a $115 million award in favor of Hogan. And Thiel was willing to spend millions to show that subjects of Gawker Media’s scrutiny could fight back and drive Denton out of business. Hogan sued in his hometown court in Florida, secretly backed along the way by PayPal (PYPL) cofounder Peter Thiel. But when Gawker’s namesake website in 2012 published a grainy sex video featuring Hogan, the self-proclaimed “gossip merchant” went a bridge too far. Over the years Denton had built his small but influential company, Gawker Media, on the backs of countless reports that needled Hollywood celebrities, professional athletes, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. They had a choice: side with Denton, an English entrepreneur–turned–New York blog baron, or Terry Bollea, the American wrestling icon known as Hulk Hogan. Nick Denton stared at the six jurors before him and prepared for the worst. ![]() At war with investor Peter Thiel, and facing bankruptcy, Denton may yet steal a page from Silicon Valley’s tax masters to have the last laugh. And if you don’t, that’s probably more of a “you” problem.Can Tech’s Tattle Tycoon Trump Thiel? Gawker media founder Nick Denton used dotcom money to build one of the tech industry’s biggest critics. You might notice it all looks a little different, and to that I say “a change of scenery enriches the soul.” So, I hope you like it. We are here to make you laugh, I hope, and think, and do a spit-take or furrow your brow, or maybe go “huh!” or “wow!” or “damn!” or “what the fuck?” or “I’m glad someone finally said it!” The current laws of civility mean that no, it can't be exactly what it once was, but we strive to honor the past and embrace the present. Gawker inspires a lot of emotion in people (men), which is fine. In closing, I ask you to approach this new iteration of Gawker with an open mind and an open heart. Darcie Wilder, Senior Social Media EditorĪmazing group of women and George.Tammie Teclemariam, Contributing Writer.Gawker always existed on the strengths of its writers and editors, and this group is really, really good. My first order of business, after deleting all the old posts I wrote, was hiring all my favorite writers and editors. I was also willing to do it, which not many people can say. I suppose my selling points as a potential editor-in-chief of Gawker were that I had previously worked at Gawker and Bustle and was unemployed. Bustle immediately shut down The Outline when the pandemic started, for which I hold no ill will, because The Outline, while a very special site, made no money. From there I went on to be executive editor of The Outline, which was acquired by Bustle in 2019. Why did Bustle Digital Group want me to edit Gawker in the first place? Well, I was Gawker’s features editor from 2014 to 2015, before I was asked to leave because I live-tweeted a meeting during which Gawker founder Nick Denton hit his head on a lamp. The world was lost in darkness and desperately needed light. ![]() Sometimes I would read old Gawker posts just to see if I still had the ability to laugh. I laughed a lot when I previously worked at Gawker, and I laughed a lot reading Gawker. I thought about how I missed laughing at things on the internet. ![]() Could I edit Gawker? Should I edit Gawker? Why not edit Gawker? I was living off of Biden Bucks, watching a lot of Love It or List It, and wondering what I would do with my life. It could not be brought back because it could never be what it once was, and also because what it once was was sued out of existence by a professional wrestler five years ago.Įver persistent, Bustle, which bought the shell of Gawker in 2018, approached me again in January. Who in God’s name would want to edit a website that was cratered by an evil tech lord and sullied by a botched relaunch? The Gawker name was toxic, but also weirdly revered an intractable combination. ![]() When Bustle Digital Group first approached me to revive Gawker last year, I said absolutely no way in hell.
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