Gawker Media is under new management as the troubled company has been bought over by TV network and digital publisher Univision for a sum of USD135 million.
The sale of Gawker and its sister sites has been unavoidable ever since the media company was found guilty of infringing the privacy of Terry Bollea, commonly known as Hulk Hogan. With Gawker required to pay Bollea USD115 million in damages, Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton filed for bankruptcy.
Univision’s purchase of Gawker Media will see Gawker.com, as well as the company’s other websites such as Deadspin, Jalopnik, Kotaku and others, become a unit of Univision, ending 14 years of independence. “Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America’s largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences,” says Denton “I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership – disentangled from the legal campaign against the company. We could not have picked an acquirer more devoted to vibrant journalism,” Denton added.
[UPDATE]
Univision’s acquisition of Gawker Media will not end with a happily ever after as Gawker.com is expected to cease operations next week. While Gawker.com will no longer exist, the other websites in the Gawker Media group such as Deadspin and Gizmodo, will remain operational. And with that, Gawker’s 14 years of operations end, not with a bang; but with a whimper.
Source: Recode