Univision to Buy Gawker Media
Gawker declared bankruptcy after being sued by Hulk Hogan.
— -- In the wake of a lawsuit, Gawker Media has agreed to sell the company to Univision, according to Nick Denton, Gawker's founder.
"I am pleased that our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership -- disentangled from the legal campaign against the company," Denton said.
The price of the sale will be $135 million, according to Mark Patricof who facilitated the negotiations on behalf of Gawker Media. “The price was a direct reflection of the high-quality business that nick and his team built," he said.
The deal will need to be finalized by a judge in bankruptcy court on Thursday, a person familiar with the deal told ABC News.
Another source familiar with the deal told ABC News that Denton will not have a future at Univision. The source said that Univision agreed to buy all seven Gawker brands, but did not know if all of those brands would continue to exist under Univision.
Today's announcement comes a day after a number of companies were said to have submitted bids to take over the media company, which has been decimated in the wake of an invasion of privacy lawsuit brought by Hulk Hogan.
"Gawker Media Group has agreed this evening to sell our business and popular brands to Univision, one of America’s largest media companies that is rapidly assembling the leading digital media group for millennial and multicultural audiences," Denton said in a statement.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, was awarded $140 million in compensatory and punitive damages by a jury that ruled in his favor in March, after the website published a sex tape involving the celebrity in 2012.
In May, billionaire tech mogul Peter Thiel -- who was publicly outed as gay by a Gawker-owned site in 2007 -- admitted to financing the lawsuit, telling The New York Times that his efforts were “less about revenge and more about specific deterrence.”
In June, Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and entered into a purchase agreement with Ziff Davis, a digital media company. However, as part of that deal, other bidders were given the opportunity to offer a higher price.
ABC News’ Michael Rothman, Meghan Keneally, Susanna Kim, Aaron Katersky and Lesley Messer contributed to this report.
