GAWKER IS PLANNING ON SHUTTING DOWN AFTER UNIVISION'S
ACQUISITION OF THE COMPANY.
AS MANY OF YOU ALREADY KNOW, GAWKER WAS FACING A VERY SERIOUS
LAWSUIT FROM HULK HOGAN, AND THEY ACTUALLY LOST THAT
LAWSUIT TO A JUDGMENT OF $140 MILLION.
AS A RESULT, THEY HAD TO FILE CHAPTER 11 BANKRUPTCY, AND AT
THAT POINT UNIVISION CAME IN AND ENGAGED IN A BID IN AN AUCTION
AND WAS THE HIGHEST BIDDER, AND EVENTUALLY BOUGHT GAWKER MEDIA.
GAWKER MEDIA DOESN'T ONLY INVOLVE GAWKER.COM, THERE
ARE VARIOUS WEBSITES RELATED TO IT, AND AS A RESULT UNIVISION
WILL NOW HAVE POSSESSION OF THOSE WEBSITES AS WELL.
"UNIVISION'S FINAL UNSUCCESSFUL OFFER SHALL ENCOMPASS ALL
SEVEN OF GAWKER MEDIA SITES, INCLUDING GAWKER.COM, BUT
GAWKER.COM STAFFERS WERE TOLD THAT UNIVISION HAS NOT ñ
NOT YET DECIDED WHETHER THE COMPANY WILL TAKE GAWKER
MEDIA'S NAMESAKE WEBSITE UNDER ITS WAY."
BASED ON WHAT I READ ABOUT THE STORY IS, MY INTEGRATION OF THE
STORY IS THAT THEY ARE PLANNING ON PRETTY MUCH DOING AWAY WITH
GAWKER IN GENERAL.
THE ARCHIVE OF GAWKER STORIES WILL STILL EXIST BUT THERE WILL
BE ANY NEW POSTS ON GAWKER.COM; HOWEVER, ALL OF THE EMPLOYEES AT
GAWKER MEDIA WILL NOW BE, YOU KNOW, PLUGGED INTO VARIOUS
JOBS AT UNIVISION.
IF YOU ARE WONDERING, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
WHY DID THEY BUY THIS THING AND THEN THEY ARE IMMEDIATELY
JETTISONING IT.
AS ANA EXPLAINS, IT IS BECAUSE THEY'D MAINLY FIND THE OTHER
PARTS OF THE COMPANY VALUABLE.
IT'S CONFUSING BECAUSE GAWKER MEDIA RUNS GAWKER.COM.
GAWKER.COM IS GOING UNDER, BUT GAWKER MEDIA'S OTHER PROPERTIES
LIKE JEZEBEL, DEAD SPIN, AND OTHERS, ARE THE ONES THAT
UNIVISION IS PAYING HUNDRED AND $35 MILLION FOR.
THEY'VE GOT TO GET RID OF GAWKER.COM BECAUSE IT'S GOT THE
HUNDRED AND $40 MILLION THAT THEY WILL NEVER MAKE UP, AND
THEY JUST PRESS THE EJECT ñ PRESS THE EJECT BUTTON OFF OF
THAT COMMENT BASICALLY SAY TO GAWKER, YOU GET YOUR HANDS UP
OFF OF THIS TRAIN WITH THAT FREAKY SHIT!
BY THE WAY, THAT FREAKY SHIT IS WHAT GOT GAWKER INTO IT ñ
INTO TROUBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
I WANT TO MAKE UNCLEAR BECAUSE A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE
CRITICIZING PETER THIEL IN HIS ROLE IN THIS.
HULK HOGAN SUED GAWKER MEDIA BECAUSE THEY PUBLISHED A
SEX TAPE THAT HE WAS FEATURED IN.
THE SEX TAPE WAS FILMED WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE, AND IT WAS
BASICALLY USED PRETTY MUCH TO BRIBE HIM LATER.
IT WAS SOLD TO GAWKER MEDIA, COCKER WENT AHEAD AND
PUBLISHED IT.
THEY BROKE FLAWS IN PUBLISHING THAT, THIS IS NOT A FREEDOM
OF THE PRESS ISSUE.
THIS IS ALL ABOUT BREAKING VERY SPECIFIC LAWS THAT PERTAIN TO
OUR PRIVACY, AND SO PETER THIEL WAS VERY CLEAR ABOUT THE FACT
THAT HE HATED GAWKER.
GAWKER OUT OF HIM SK BACK IN 2007
AND HE HAD AN ISSUE WITH THEM EVER SINCE, SO ONCE HE SAW
THAT HULK HOGAN WAS SUING THEM, HE SAW IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY
TO GET INVOLVED AND GET SOME VENGEANCE.
BUT IF GAWKER DIDN'T BREAK ANY LAWS, IT WOULDN'T HAVE MATTERED
HOW MUCH MONEY PETER THIEL HAD OR WHAT HE WANTED TO DO,
IT'S ALL ABOUT GAWKER MEDIA BREAKING THE LAW, SO LET'S
BE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR ABOUT THAT.
IT'S NOT SOME RICH GUY COMING IN AND DECIDING, THAT MEDIA
COMPANY, I DON'T LIKE THEM, I WILL CRUSH THEM, THAT'S WHAT
ñ THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED.
ALTHOUGH PAYBACK IS A BITCH.
I HEARD PETER THIEL WAS CAUGHT ON TAPE SAYING, YOU PICK THE
RIGHT ONE HONEY BECAUSE I AM A CRAZY BITCH!
YOU ARE OBSESSED.
I DON'T AGREE WITH PETER THIEL OF COURSE, HE'S WITH DONALD
TRUMP, IS A LIBERTARIAN, AND A RADICAL ONE AT THAT.
HE EVEN WANTS TO MAKE LIBERTARIAN ISLAND.
I HOPE HE DOES.
BUT HERE HE'S SAYING, YOU CAME AT ME, I'M COMING AT YOU
BUT I'M DOING IT IN THE RIGHT WAY, IT'S LEGAL.
YOU BROKE THE LAW.
AND SO ALL HE DID WAS FINANCE A LAWSUIT AGAINST THEM.
IF THEY WERE TO TAKE THIS AND IT WERE TO SET A PRECEDENT
WHERE RICH PEOPLE GO AROUND CRUSHING ANY PRESS THAT
THEY DON'T LIKE, RIGHT OR WRONG, THEN WE WOULD HAVE A
COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ISSUE ON OUR HANDS.
GAWKER WOULDN'T HAVE GOT INTO ANY OF THIS TROUBLE IF THEY
HAD DONE WHAT WAS ADJUDICATED TO BE ILLEGAL.
ANOTHER THING I WANTED TO SAY IS, ONE OF THE REASONS PETER C ñ
PETER THIEL GOT INVOLVED IS, YES HE HATES GAWKER AND WANTED TO
GET REVENGE, BUT ALSO, HOLCOMBE WAS NOT IN A GOOD FINANCIAL
PLACE TO SUE A GIGANTIC MEDIA COMPANY AND WIN.
HE WENT THROUGH AN AWFUL DIVORCE, HE LOST A LOT OF HIS
MONEY AS A RESULT, AND IT SUCKS, WE DON'T HAVE A FAIR JUSTICE
SYSTEM, IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO TAKE ON A GIANT CORPORATION, OR
EVEN A MEDIUM-SIZED CORPORATION, YOU ARE KIND OF SCREWED.
SO PETER THIEL SAW IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP HULK
HOGAN, AND LOOK, HOLCOMBE WAS RIGHT IN THIS CASE GAWKER
MEDIA WAS WRONG, SO IT IS WHAT IT IS.
YEP.
I'M JUST TRYING TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT I SHOULD SAY
THE NEXT WRONG THING.
AS YOU DETERMINE THAT, LET ME JUST BITCH A LITTLE BIT
MORE ABOUT OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.
THINK ABOUT IT, IF YOU ARE AN AVERAGE AMERICAN AND GAWKER
MEDIA OR ANY COMPANY DECIDED TO VIOLATE YOUR PRIVACY, AND
POST YOUR SEX TAPE, THAT BY THE WAY WAS FILMED WITHOUT YOUR
CONSENT OR YOUR KNOWLEDGE, THE LIKELIHOOD OF YOU WINNING
THAT CASE IS VERY SLIM IF YOU HAVE THE RESOURCES TO FIGHT
THEM IN COURT.
THAT'S WHAT FRUSTRATES ME THE MOST ABOUT THAT, THESE
PROTECTIONS, THEORETICALLY, ARE THERE FOR ALL OF US, BUT WE
DON'T REALLY GET EQUAL TREATMENT WHEN IT COMES TO
ADJUDICATING THESE CASES.