Gawker files for bankruptcy after losing $140mn lawsuit to Hulk Hogan | World News - Hindustan Times
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Gawker files for bankruptcy after losing $140mn lawsuit to Hulk Hogan

ByAP, New York
Jun 11, 2016 01:21 AM IST

Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, about three months after Hogan won a lawsuit against the online gossip and news publisher.

Gawker is filing for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell itself to publishing company Ziff Davis rather than pay $140 million to pro wrestler Hulk Hogan.

People walk past a building that lists offices for Gawker Media in New York City, US on Friday.(Reuters)
People walk past a building that lists offices for Gawker Media in New York City, US on Friday.(Reuters)

Gawker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, about three months after Hogan won a lawsuit against the online gossip and news publisher. The sale will be conducted through bankruptcy court so other bidders could emerge.

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The New York company said in the filing that it has as much as $500 million in debt and up to $100 million in assets.

Hogan sued Gawker after it posted a video of him having sex with a friend’s wife. Hogan was awarded $115 million in compensatory damages plus an added $25.1 million in punitive damages.

Read | Gawker privacy lawsuit evolves into battle of tech billionaires

It was later revealed that billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel had been secretly funding Hogan’s lawsuit. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, has been a frequent target of Gawker writers, who have written unflattering pieces about Thiel’s political beliefs and utopian goals.

One 2007 post outed Thiel as gay. Another Gawker site, Valleywag, ran a number of stories skewering Facebook, which provided a big chunk of Thiel’s estimated $2.7 billion fortune.

A spokesperson for Thiel said he had no comment on Friday.

Read | Most shocking celebrity sex tapes after Hulk Hogan wins $115 mn suit

In the filing, Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was listed as Gawker’s biggest creditor.

Gawker founder Nick Denton said in a statement that Ziff Davis’ e-commerce, licensing and video assets would be a good fit with Gawker’s websites, which include tech site Gizmodo, sports site Deadpsin, video-game site Kotaku, celebrity and women-focused site Jezebel, news and gossip site Gawker, car-site Jalopnik and self-help site Lifehacker.

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