Capital New York reports that Gawker Media could end up losing $100 million in its lawsuit against Hulk Hogan. The suit could force founder Nick Denton to sell the company or find outside investors.
Gawker published a “highlight reel” of moments from a sex tape featuring Hogan and Heather Clem (wife of Bubba the Love Sponge) in 2012. Hogan then sued Gawker later in the year. During a meeting earlier this month, Denton told his staff: “I have way, way less money than people think! … I don’t have hundreds of millions of dollars to kind of bail the company out. If we are in an environment with higher business risk and higher legal risk, then the company is going to need somebody with deeper pockets and hopefully principles in order to keep it both commercially viable and editorially viable.”
He also said that the possibility of the company closing due to the lawsuit is “unlikely but possible.” The lawsuit is scheduled to start on July 6.
Finally, he gave his thoughts on the matter in a blog post on Kinja. He wrote: “Without someone actually having the gumption to fight these cases, journalists might as well resign themselves to a role as liaisons for PR people and stenographers for celebrities. As I told Capital: The story was a real sober take on a version of events that [Hogan] had been talking about. If you don’t defend that, then what do you defend? You might as well just take the First Amendment and tear it up.“
