Gawker Media Hires Investment Banker to Explore Options—Including Selling

Gawker Media has hired an investment banker to explore the company’s options, including a potential sale, it was reported on May 26.

Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, talks with his legal team before Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, testifies in court during his trial against Gawker Media at the Pinellas County Courthouse on March 8, 2016 in St Petersburg, Florida. Photo by John Pendygraft-Pool/Getty Images

Gawker Media has hired an investment banker to explore the company’s options, including a potential sale, it was reported on May 26.

The online media company is currently under turmoil after losing an expensive lawsuit.

Gawker lost a $140 million invasion-of-privacy suit against wrestler Hulk Hogan 2 months ago. The company was taken to court after it posted a sex tape of Hogan online.

It was recently revealed that billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, was behind the lawsuit.

Thiel admitted to The New York Times in an interview that he has bankrolled lawyers to mount cases against Gawker because one of the media company’s blogs published a story in 2007 that said he was gay.

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” Thiel told the Times.

“I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest,” he added.

Partner at Founders Fund Peter Thiel participates in a panel discussion at the New York Times 2015 DealBook Conference at the Whitney Museum of American Art on November 3, 2015 in New York City. Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for New York Times