TwoĪ great media brand and a great media business are not the same thing. Apparently Univision wants nothing to do with it. But they’ll also be paired with Univision’s other properties, like Fusion, which is smart but has struggled to find an audience. They might get a little more circumspect now that they have a legal department overseeing things. Arguably, they’re in a better position than ever, as they are now owned by a giant media corporation with the ability to support them and defend them. Gawker Media’s websites haven’t been destroyed. There are many potential takeaways from all this, but I will focus on just a few. I interviewed for a job running Valleywag many years ago but wound up going to work at Wired instead (luckily I think). In person he’s warm, intelligent, and funny. In full disclosure: I know Denton a little bit and I like him. Surely he will take a big financial hit, but chances are good that he’ll still be rich when the shouting is over and the sweepers are cleaning up the mess. Through a series of holding companies he’s managed to transfer a good part of Gawker’s profits offshore, to the Cayman Islands and to Hungary, and he and his family have already extracted some of that money, probably caching it in places where it will be inaccessible to the U.S. Meanwhile, it emerged that Denton was not just savvy about setting up the journalistic structure of his company: He has also been very smart about its financial structure. Update: Jason Calacanis tells me that Univision is buying Gawker’s assets but is probably shielded from the lawsuits, thanks to the bankruptcy. Univision is buying this company knowing that it may have to shell out more cash to settle its legal bills, and presumably it’s well prepared. Plus, other legal actions (also funded by Thiel) are still pending. Secured creditors will get their money first, and then Hogan will get his payout. Because Gawker filed for bankruptcy, the money from the transaction will remain in escrow until all appeals and adjustments to the award have been settled. Univision’s offer is coincidentally almost exactly equal to that $140M judgment, but that’s just happenstance. It turned out along the way that Hogan’s lawsuit was funded by Peter Thiel, the billionaire cofounder of PayPal, who had been outed by Valleywag writer Owen Thomas in 2007. After publishing a Hulk Hogan sex video, the pro wrestling star sued the company, eventually winning a $140 million judgment. It’s that latter part that got Gawker, and Denton, in trouble. was consistent: If someone famous was doing it, it was news, and therefore worth posting. Other things Gawker did, like outing people’s sexuality or publishing their private sex tapes, are considered beyond the pale by almost everyone. Some of the things Gawker did, like paying sources for access to juicy stories (like the iPhone 4), are considered distasteful by professional journalists in the U.S. Turnover was high but many of the early Gawker writers and editors went on to terrific careers in more traditional media, or in more stable startups.ĭenton also brought a distinctly British tabloid sensibility to his media company. In each case, Denton tended to hire independent-minded editors, give them a lot of autonomy, and let them burn themselves out in a frenzy of furious blogging. Other sites, like Kotaku, Lifehacker, and Jalopnik, pursued their own verticals. Valleywag was the on-again, off-again Gawker-style gossip rag for Silicon Valley. took off as a gossipy take on New York media and assorted celebrities. Gizmodo became the go-to site for aggressively sourced and intelligently explained gadget news. Denton was smart enough to pursue a portfolio strategy, rather than try to be all things to all people: Each site had its focus and its audience. What he understood, early on, was how well-suited the blog format could be to a modern news site.
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