Wow, didn't see that coming. Apparently they are trying to sell the company as well now.
Wow, didn't see that coming. Apparently they are trying to sell the company as well now.
If not for how this was done, I might cheer their demise. But I can't cheer for secretly bankrolling someone else's lawsuit with the intention of bankrupting the defendant over a personal grudge.
In reply to GameboyRMH:
Who did what now?
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/05/billionaire-peter-thiel-funded-hulk-hogan-lawsuit-to-take-down-gawker/
Wait, so you're saying a billionaire is using their money to get what they want? Staggering. 
Got it. I was expecting it to be one of the guys that owns a bunch of traditional media sources.
KyAllroad wrote: Wait, so you're saying a billionaire is using their money to get what they want? Staggering.
Yeah, I know, but it still gives me the willies when someone with enough money can shut down a media outlet with a lawsuit. OTOH, it's Gawker, they are pretty scummy, and you can make an argument that they did in fact violate Hogan's privacy. Granted, he's a public figure, and every other tabloid outlet does the same thing, but it's still a dangerous game to be playing.
At the end of the day, as long as I can still read Drew Magary somewhere, I don't really care.
Top comment on Reddit:
This, of course, is an important reminder that everyone should have an emergency plan for what to do if Hulkamania runs wild on you.
Check out Wired's story from back when the news broke
http://www.wired.com/2016/05/three-cheers-for-peter-thiel/
Apparently Ziff Davis has made a bid. This could be exciting, as that would mean Jalopnik, Kotaku, and Gizmodo would be retained, but not much else. Slimming the E36 M3 show that is Gawker Media into a web platform and a lifestyle group? That's change I can get behind.
I wouldn't be shocked if Thiel buys the assets out of bankruptcy and just shuts it all down. He won the battle, now he won the war, time to salt the fields and go home.
Honestly, I'm glad it happened. Gawker's journalistic integrity was thrown out the window in exchange for clicks. They condemned publishing leaked celeb pics (while posting about it constantly), then turning around posting Hulk's sex tape like it was a public service. The staggering amount of chutzpah shown by Gawker is ultimately what turned it into a scorched earth campaign.
I just wish f'dcompany.com was still around to cover the demise.
Almost forgot:
Can we talk about Airtex/Champ filing for Chapter 11 this week, too? Their billionaire owner couldn't bundle them with Fram/Autolite to sell back off, so he sold the only part that was any good (Wells) to NGK and is attempting to flush them so he can buy them back for pennies on the dollar and then combine them all into 1 auto parts company. Unless Ichan gets his hands on them for his PepBoys/Federal Mogul empire...
Aside from how terribly Jalopnik treated the very people that helped build the site into what it was, this sort of crap was a very large part of why I detested the entire "empire":
Tom_Spangler wrote:KyAllroad wrote: Wait, so you're saying a billionaire is using their money to get what they want? Staggering.Yeah, I know, but it still gives me the willies when someone with enough money can shut down a media outlet with a lawsuit.
It wasn't the filing of the lawsuit that shut them down, it was losing the lawsuit. There's a difference.
Based on how the editor of Gawker testified in the trial alone, I have NO sympathy for them.
“Can you imagine a situation where a celebrity sex tape would not be newsworthy?” asked the lawyer, Douglas E. Mirell.
“If they were a child,” Mr. Daulerio replied.
“Under what age?” the lawyer pressed.
“Four.”
(he claims he was being flippant, but even if he was being flippant about it doesn't really help)
I only feel a bit sorry for the fact that I am sure the bankruptcy reduce the judgement they pay (if at all)
I really don't like how Jalopnik unceremoniously boots people, but I suspect that's more due to Gawker's management style than Hardigree's way of doing things.
Doug and Orlove are the only one's I'd really feel bad about. I used to like Torchinsky but he's been getting a little too random and whimsical for my tastes. Demuro just does interesting E36 M3, and has been a bit of an eye opener in regards to CarMax, or what it's like to actually own a fancy used super car. Kind of annoys me that he's a year younger than me, but that's neither here nor there. Raphael, while I don't really like watching his videos (his voice just doesn't mesh with me) he does some really impressive things, and /Drive has shown me a lot more about rally school, driving in general, and different cars, than even being here has exposed me to.
Kind of a shame how it came about, but stoners in houses shouldn't throw glass, or however the saying goes.
In reply to G_Body_Man:
Or Patrick George as they've had some rollover. Orlove and Steph won't be waiting long for gigs if jalopnik disappears or changes.
In reply to captdownshift:
Yeah. Here's hoping Stef is feeling more or less back to normal soon. Did you read the article about what happened to her after the Nash incident?
Sadly suspect what will actually happen is the sites will continue unaffected with he average clicker unaware of what went wrong. The CH 11 will make the debt go away and this new company will make yuugge money off the web traffic and site names running gawker without gawker media at the bottom and without the debt. Bankruptcy should end the company period. Names go away none of this buying it for pennies and continuing to operate with name recognition and IP providing profit with out paying back the debt it took to generate the business.
Maybe this will kill thethe checkout line tabloids. If gawker lost a suit against a celebrity of hogans stature, this opens a floodgate for the rest of them. I am ok with this, because its none of my damn business who does who. If its legal, i dont need to know
I really only know what Gawker is because I've heard people here complaining about Jalopnik changes over the years. I had no idea that Hulk Hogan was still a thing, much less having sex on tape. My wife always gives me a hard time about how out of touch I am with pop culture, but I don't think I am missing anything.
Maybe if a billionaire was bankrolling a lawsuit against an orphanage or something I might be upset. But bankrolling a lawsuit against a sleazeball clickbait content aggregator company (allegedly) worth over $100 million?
Nope, don't have any berkeleys to give.
In reply to G_Body_Man:
Yup, she was fairly open and active on facebook, sans 3-4 days, and quite candid regarding the aftermath of the incident. Having been there myself a few times, I feel for her.
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