Univision Bought All Of Gawker Media's Sites But Reportedly May Just Get Rid Of Gawker.com
Gawker – Recode’s Peter Kafka reported yesterday that Univision’s final and successful offer shall “encompass all seven of Gawker Media’s sites, including Gawker.com,” but following his report, Gawker.com staffers were told that Univision has not yet decided whether the company will take Gawker Media’s namesake website under its wing. Both Lloyd Grove of The Daily Beast and Sydney Ember of the New York Times later noted that the future of Gawker.com remains an open question.
While Gawker.com was included in Univision’s winning bid, the proposed acquisition agreement gives Univision the option to transfer Gawker.com back to the bankrupt Gawker Media LLC prior to the deal’s closing in September. Alternatively, Univision could choose to acquire Gawker.com’s assets but decide not to operate it.
Heather Dietrick, the president of Gawker Media, informed the rest of company of the news at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday morning. She did not know exactly when Univision would make a final decision about Gawker.com, but said that she hopes one will be made soon.
Gawker reporting on other sites quoting Gawker Media employees that Gawker Media’s new parent company may get rid of Gawker.com, what a weird twisted world of meta-blogging that is. But overall this seems like the most fair punishment to me after this whole Hulk Hogan sex tape debacle has led to years of Gawker fighting for its survival. For over a decade now, Gawker has been at the forefront of blogging in a lot of ways, creating different content and evolving a style that has influenced a lot of places and writers (even some of those here, I’m sure). But they’ve also done so many shitty things and made so many enemies with their arrogance and self-importance as well as being a key driver of the “internet outrage” media economy that’s everywhere these days. The Hulk Hogan lawsuit being funded by Gawker enemy Peter Thiel was the rubber meeting the road for all the bad karma they’ve accrued.
So what better way to give them a serious slap on the wrist that doesn’t totally shit all over the concept of journalism and the freedom to report uncomfortable things than sacrificing just a brand name but not the things you actually stand for? The people who made the decision to run Hulk Hogan’s sex tape and create the kind of culture that would do that in the first place would be the ones suffering the most both in terms of their ego and financially (Univision would reportedly transfer current Gawker.com employees who had nothing to do with this to other sites if it got axed) and the punishment of beheading their flagship site seems kind of poetic. Rather than dragging it out forever, this might be the perfect way to wrap this story up and let all of the characters involved move on with their lives. Univision can get rid of Gawker’s history of sex tapes and stalking celebrities and outing private citizens, all of Gawker’s enemies can puff their chests out at their demise, and the former Gawker has to rebuild under Univision and do it better this time. The punishment fits the crime and it makes sense all around.
Univision, it’s time to use your newfound purchase wisely, log into the Gawker.com servers and help Hulk Hogan, Peter Thiel, and the rest of America move on: