It’s the end of an era for Gawker and CEO Nick Denton, who founded the company in 2002 and has long boasted of its independence. In April, it bought out Disney's half of Fusion, an English-language cable network and digital media venture targeted at millennials. It bought The Root, an African-American news site, in May 2015 and acquired a controlling stake in satirical news site The Onion in January. Over the past two years, Univision has been expanding its reach into English-language digital media companies, in preparation for a planned IPO that is expected to take place next year. It’s worked well for Gawker,” WGAE executive director Lowell Peterson told POLITICO. Gawker's editorial staff voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America-East last year and ratified a collective bargaining agreement with the company in March.īefore the auction, Gawker's employees and the WGAE said that any company that acquired Gawker should keep the current union contract. Univision will also honor Gawker's current union contract. Two people with knowledge of the bid told POLITICO that Univision agreed to keep at least 95 percent of Gawker's current staff and to take over Gawker's current leases in New York (at 114 Fifth Avenue) and Budapest. Ultimately outbid by Univision, aging publishing company Ziff Davis, a subsidiary of internet company J2 Global since 2012, hoped to add the Gawker portfolio as it reinvents itself into a digital company through the ownership of websites including and judge will certify Univision's winning bid for Gawker's assets later this week and the sale will officially close early next month. “But we’re looking at reaching the next generation of millennial and multicultural consumers, and the only way to do that is digitally.”Īt the time, Carl Salas of Moody’s Investors Service commended them for looking beyond their core audience: “When you look at an IPO, you want to see a number of growth opportunities, and digital investments have higher-growth revenue streams.” “At a top level, these brands look unrelated,” he said. When Univision acquired The Onion, digital general manager Mark Lopez acknowledged that the company’s strategy might not be immediately clear. Over the last year it has acquired a growing portfolio of digital media properties including satirical news site The Onion, youth-targeted media brand Fusion and The Root targeted toward African-American audiences. Univision has been trying for more than a year to impress Wall Street in order to some day launch a successful initial public offering, hence its effort to beef up high-growth digital offerings that appeal to English-speaking millennials so that it is seen as something more than a media company for older-generation Hispanics. At one point there appeared to be several potential bidders for Gawker, which owns a portfolio of sites including Jezebel and Deadspin, with chief restructuring officer William Holden testifying in July that 55 potential bidders had emerged during the auction process. Denton filed his own bankruptcy claim earlier this month after the court concluded he is personally responsible for $10 million in damages for his role in posting the wrestler’s sex tape.Īt the time of Gawker’s bankruptcy filing, publisher Ziff Davis - which owns PC Magazine and IGN - put up a $90 million stalking horse bid for Gawker’s assets, making it the automatic buyer if no other bidders emerged or none of the bids exceeded Ziff Davis’ offer. Gawker is appealing the ruling, but in the meantime, Hogan remains the company’s largest unsecured creditor. Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June, a month after a Florida jury ordered the publishing company to pay former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan a staggering $140 million in damages in an invasion of privacy lawsuit. Bankruptcy Judge Stuart Bernstein will have to approve the sale before it is official, and a hearing currently is set for Thursday. Other companies that were said to be exploring making a bid included Penske Media, owner of Variety and Deadline, and Vox Media, which operates a portfolio of sites that include The Verge and Recode. TelevisaUnivision Inks Deal With CBS, NFL to Televise Super Bowl LVIIIīids were due at the end of business on Monday, with just two contenders, Ziff Davis and Univision, having made formal bids.
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