Gawker Media founder Nick Denton filed
Monday for personal bankruptcy protection in a bid to stop Hulk Hogan
from seizing his assets in a multimillion-dollar sex tape judgment.
The office of the British internet
entrepreneur, who controls a 68 percent stake in the news and
entertainment website, confirmed the move to AFP. His lawyers gave no
further details when asked to comment.
In March, a US jury in Florida ordered
that wrestling star Hogan be allowed to collect $140 million in total
compensation after Gawker published a tape of him having sex with a
friend’s wife.
Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June, also seeking to sidestep a shutdown over the jury’s verdict.
Denton estimated his assets at $10-15
million, according to a copy of his Chapter 11 individual bankruptcy
filing published by Politico.
In a memo to staff, obtained by AFP, Denton appeared upbeat about the prospects of Gawker surviving.
After the company filed for bankruptcy,
the embattled US media group said it had reached a deal to sell its
media brands to publishing group Ziff Davis.
“We can be proud that we survived and
prospered as an independent company for more than a decade, and have a
second act ahead of us, under the shelter finally of a larger media
company,” Denton wrote.
He slammed what he called a “personal
vendetta” and called it “disturbing to live in a world in which a
billionaire can bully journalists because he didn’t like the coverage,”
Denton wrote in the memo to staff.
While Gawker has come under fire for its
no-holds-barred approach to celebrity coverage, the case also raised
questions about whether powerful interests can use their resources to
silence media for unfavorable coverage.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel
acknowledged that he helped fund the litigation. He has feuded for years
against Gawker since it “outed” him as a homosexual.
source:punch
