defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media. The suit stemmed from Gawker's publication of a sex tape involving ex-WWE superstar Terry Bollea, better known as "Hulk Hogan." A Florida jury awarded Bollea US$140 million in March. Thiel, a Facebook board member and longtime financial supporter of theCommittee to Protect Journalists, confirmed that he backed the Hogan case in part due to his concerns about Gawker Media's journalism tactics. Gawker's former site, Valleywag, outed Thiel as gay in a 2007 series of articles that also affected the lives of many of Thiel's friends. Although Thiel was a wealthy public figure, the publication drew substantial criticism from media analysts. Guardian Angel Thiel's financial support in the Hogan case was motivated by a desire to deter the publication from causing similar damage to those with fewer resources to respond, he toldThe New York Times. The publication was bullying people to get attention in the absence of any public interest, he said. Thiel provided about $10 million to help finance the Hogan legal case, according to the Times. Hogan rose to fame as the WWF heavyweight Champion in the 1980s and then starred in several films, including the Rocky series. Although he amassed millions of dollars through his wrestling and entertainment endeavors, his wealth does not approach that of Thiel, who is said to be worth about $2.7 billion. Silent Partner Last week's hubbub followed reports that Gawker founder Nick Denton was looking to sell after a court last week denied the company's motion to retry the Hogan case and the award amount was allowed to stand. "We've always said we expect to prevail on appeal and we've always said we're exploring contingency plans of various sorts so that's not new," Gawker Media said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Lexi Georgiadis. Gawker earlier this year announced a deal to sell a minority stake to Columbus Nova Technology Partners in order to fund growth initiatives and pay for the Hogan defense. "Everyone take a breath. We've had bankers engaged for quite some time given the need for contingency planning around Facebook board member Peter Thiel's revenge campaign -- and that's how the Columbus Nova investment was arranged," Gawker Media added. "We recently engaged [Houlihan Lokey Managing Director] Mark Patricof to advise us and that seems to have stirred up some excitement, when the fact is that nothing is new."
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defamation lawsuit against Gawker Media. The suit stemmed from Gawker's publication of a sex tape involving ex-WWE superstar Terry Bollea, better known as "Hulk Hogan." A Florida jury awarded Bollea US$140 million in March. Thiel, a Facebook board member and longtime financial supporter of theCommittee to Protect Journalists, confirmed that he backed the Hogan case in part due to his concerns about Gawker Media's journalism tactics. Gawker's former site, Valleywag, outed Thiel as gay in a 2007 series of articles that also affected the lives of many of Thiel's friends. Although Thiel was a wealthy public figure, the publication drew substantial criticism from media analysts. Guardian Angel Thiel's financial support in the Hogan case was motivated by a desire to deter the publication from causing similar damage to those with fewer resources to respond, he toldThe New York Times. The publication was bullying people to get attention in the absence of any public interest, he said. Thiel provided about $10 million to help finance the Hogan legal case, according to the Times. Hogan rose to fame as the WWF heavyweight Champion in the 1980s and then starred in several films, including the Rocky series. Although he amassed millions of dollars through his wrestling and entertainment endeavors, his wealth does not approach that of Thiel, who is said to be worth about $2.7 billion. Silent Partner Last week's hubbub followed reports that Gawker founder Nick Denton was looking to sell after a court last week denied the company's motion to retry the Hogan case and the award amount was allowed to stand. "We've always said we expect to prevail on appeal and we've always said we're exploring contingency plans of various sorts so that's not new," Gawker Media said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Lexi Georgiadis. Gawker earlier this year announced a deal to sell a minority stake to Columbus Nova Technology Partners in order to fund growth initiatives and pay for the Hogan defense. "Everyone take a breath. We've had bankers engaged for quite some time given the need for contingency planning around Facebook board member Peter Thiel's revenge campaign -- and that's how the Columbus Nova investment was arranged," Gawker Media added. "We recently engaged [Houlihan Lokey Managing Director] Mark Patricof to advise us and that seems to have stirred up some excitement, when the fact is that nothing is new."