Peter Thiel takes Gawker Media down to the mat. (credit: JD Lasica)
Wednesday was not a good day for Gawker Media: First, a Florida judge refused to reduce the $140 million in damages awarded by a jury in the invasion-of-privacy suit brought by professional wrestler Hulk Hogan against Gawker for posting a sex tape. The judge then refused to order a new trial.
Ars had described the March verdict as a "life threatening" event for the New York-based network of news and gossip sites. Now it has been revealed that Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who a decade ago was outed as being "totally gay" by Gawker's now-defunct Valleywag site, has bankrolled Hulk Hogan's litigation.
"It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence," Thiel told The New York 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."
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