![]() ![]() '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.' 'It's less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,' Thiel previously told CNBC about his backing of the lawsuit. 'If there is a lasting legacy from this experience, it should be a new awareness of the danger of dark money in litigation finance. 'It's a shame the Hogan trial took place without the motives of the plaintiff's backer being known,' Denton wrote in his blog post. But those proceeds would first be distributed to Gawker's secured creditors, and then whatever was left would be shared pro rata with all the unsecured creditors.ĭenton has slammed what he called a 'personal vendetta' and said in a memo to staff that it was 'disturbing to live in a world in which a billionaire can bully journalists because he didn't like the coverage.' The company sold to Univision for $135 million - already five less than was awarded in court. That means the wrestler would have had to join a long list of Gawker's creditors.Īs an unsecured creditor, Hogan would also have to get in line behind Gawker's secured creditors - such as mortgage lenders. Gawker had filed for Chapter 11, while Denton had also personally filed for bankruptcy. ![]() The case drew heightened attention when tech billionaire Peter Thiel acknowledged that he had helped fund that and other litigation against Gawker, a company Thiel has feuded with for years since it 'outed' him as gay.Īfter being awarded a record-breaking $140 million in court, Hogan has settled for less than a quarter of that in bankruptcy court today.īut experts believe that the dispute was always going to have ended in an out of court settlement for substantially less.įirstly, Hogan would have had the win the appeal that Gawker filed shortly after the case, which could potentially have reduced his damages dramatically.Īssuming he won, he would have faced the tricky problem of getting a financial payout from a person or company in bankruptcy proceedings. The lengthy process, and number of creditors, could have left Hogan with just a fraction of his court appointed payout. The $135 million sale price - already five million dollars less than was awarded in court - would first be distributed to those secure creditors, while anything left over would have had to have been shared pro rata with all the unsecured creditors. The bankruptcy meant that the wrestler would have had to join a long list of Gawker's creditors - and behind the media firm's secured creditors. Univision purchased Gawker Media's assets, which include the likes of Gizmodo and Jezebel, for $135 million as part of the bankruptcy auction proceedings.īut the move failed to save the media group's flagship gossip site, Gawker - which quickly gained a reputation for its no-holds barred approach to journalism after launching in 2003, which shut down in August. The judgement resulted in Gawker filing for a Chapter 11 in June - which allows a debtor to propose a plan of reorganization to keep its business alive and pay creditors over time.įounder Denton, who held personally responsible for $10 million of the judgement, also filed for bankruptcy a couple of months later in a bid to stop his assets from being seized because of the judgment. Jurors said they decided to award the record-breaking damages to serve as a deterrent to other media companies. But Hogan said at the time he believes Gawker should have been forced to hand over even more.Īt first it may seem baffling as to why Hogan would settle for a mere $31 million when he won almost five times as much at court.īut, while a jury may have awarded him $140 million, it is highly unlikely that the reality star would have ever received the full payout.įirstly, he would have had the win the appeal that Gawker filed shortly after the case, which could potentially have reduced his damages dramatically.Īssuming Hogan did win that appeal, he would have faced the next problem getting a payout from a company in bankruptcy proceedings. Denton (leaving the court house in March during the hearing ) also filed for personal bankruptcy protection in August in a bid to stop his assets from being seized because of the judgmentīut a jury disagreed, finding that Hogan's privacy outweighed their rights, and awarded the former wrestler - real name Terry Gene Bolle - $115 million in compensatory damages and $25 million more in punitive damages. ![]()
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