Page 14 - Gawker

Bankruptcy

In August 2016, Denton declared

personal bankruptcy to shield

himself after the court ruled that Hogan did not have to wait

until appeal to begin collection efforts.

Rather than try to continue operating under the supervision

of the bankruptcy court, Denton, who owned 53% of the
common stock of Gawker Media, decided to sell the Web

sites to Univision Communications, which was aimed largely

at a Spanish-speaking audience, for a $135million which

would go into a fund overseen by the bankruptcy court.
Also, as part of the deal, Denton agreed to shut down the

Gawker Web site.

The funds generated from the sale will go into a fund
overseen by the bankruptcy court. Secured creditors will be

paid about $22 million whilst the remainder will be held by

the court until the appeal is completed.

However, on November 2nd, Hogan and Gawker Media

announced a tentative settlement, for thirty-one million

dollars, paid out of the sale proceeds. In return, Gawker

would forgo its chance to appeal.

Meanwhile, Fortune Magazine investigated Gawker Media’s

finances and found that although Denton appeared to be

bankrupt he was far from penurious. In fact as the article

pointed out