Gawker Files for possible Bankruptcy

 

According to paperwork obtained by ABC News, the corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.

In March, the media company was ordered to pay Hulk Hogan $140 million in damages for publishing a sex tape featuring the former wrestler. Gawker's request for a new trial was denied, and the company is expected to appeal.

Then, in May, Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, sued the media company again, this time for allegedly leaking a transcript in which he used a racial slur. When that information was made public, Hogan was fired by his employer, World Wrestling Entertainment.

Gawker has denied any wrongdoing.

"This is getting ridiculous. Hulk Hogan is a litigious celebrity abusing the court system to control his public image and media coverage. It was absurd enough that Hulk Hogan claimed $100 million for emotional distress and economic damage for a story about a sex life that he'd already made public. Now Hulk Hogan is blaming Gawker for racist remarks he made on another sex tape, which Gawker never had," the media company said in a statement at the time. "As we've said before and are happy to say again: Gawker did not leak the information. It's time for Hulk Hogan to take responsibility for his own words, because the only person who got Hulk Hogan fired from the WWE is Hulk Hogan."

Hogan's feud with Gawker took a new turn late last month, when PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel admitted to bankrolling Hogan's invasion of privacy lawsuit. Thiel, who has a tumultuous history with the media corporation, said that Hogan's lawsuit was just one of the few that he was funding.

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” he told the New York Times. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.”

In an open response letter, Gawker founder Nick Denton called Thiel's financial backing of the lawsuits "twisted," and worried that it could be disastrous for media companies in the future. He also invited Thiel to discuss the issue publicly.

"Among the million posts published by Gawker and other properties since the company was founded, there have undoubtedly been occasions we overstepped the line. In offsetting the fawning coverage of tech luminaries and others, sometimes our stories swing too far for my taste toward snark," he in an open letter. "But this vindictive decade-long campaign is quite out of proportion to the hurt you claim."