Charles J. Harder, the lawyer who represented Hulk Hogan in his successful lawsuit against Gawker Media, has brought a new legal action directed at one of its former websites, Jezebel, on behalf of a self-described life-coach who said a 2016 article accuses his therapy group of being a cult.
Peter Thiel'sPeter Thiel's Lawyers Now Say He Was Financially Motivated In Funding Hulk Hogan's Gawker Lawsuit. This article is more than 5 years old.
Hogan's invasion of privacy suit asked for $100 million. At trial, Hogan received a $115 million verdict against Gawker, $55 million in economic damages, and $60 million for emotional distress. Then, the jury added $25.1 million in punitive damages, for a total of $140.1 million.
In 2016, Hulk Hogan, the professional wrestler, won a nine-figure lawsuit that ultimately bankrupted Gawker Media, a fleet of sites that epitomized the barbed brilliance of New York's young media crowd.
Peter ThielBollea had a secret benefactor paying about $10 million for the lawsuit: Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and one of the earliest investors in Facebook.
On Wednesday, however, Gawker capitulated, settling with Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry G. Bollea, for $31 million, according to court documents, and bringing to a close a multiyear dispute that stripped the company of much that once defined it.
Univision bought Gawker Media at auction in August 2016 for $135 million. The company changed the name of its new asset to Gizmodo Media Group, after the group's Gizmodo tech blog, and jettisoned the Gawker.com flagship site, which remains online, albeit in a static form, a digital orphan.
Gawker case loss and ensuing bankruptcy. Denton was featured in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 in position #502 with an estimated wealth of £140m (approximately $205m) based on the sale of his previous companies and the then-current value of Gawker Media. Denton lives in New York City.
Bankruptcy and legal experts for Gawker have tried to block Thiel's bid, according to court papers. Thiel funded the lawsuit against Gawker after the site published a sex tape featuring Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea. Hogan won a $140m judgment against the site, and later settled for $31m.
4.7 billion USD (2022)Peter Thiel / Net worthAs of May 2022, Thiel had an estimated net worth of $7.19 billion and was ranked 297th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Born in Frankfurt, he moved with his family to the United States as an infant.