Gawker's shell settles with Hulk Hogan for $31 million

The shell of Gawker has settled with Hulk Hogan for $31 million, ending a years-long fight that led to the media company's bankruptcy, the shutdown of Gawker.com and the sale of Gawker's other sites to Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.


Gawker founder Nick Denton in a Wednesday blog post said that the "saga is over." Denton filed for personal bankruptcy because of the $140 million verdict won by the former professional wrestler in a Florida court over a sex tape.

Denton says that as part of the settlement, three of the company's stories—about Hogan and two others who had also filed suit—are being taken offline.

The Gawker vs. Hogan invasion-of-privacy case became even more notorious when it emerged that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had bankrolled the suit.

Explore further: Gawker.com dies next week, killed by an unhappy subject