How billionaires can destroy journalism

Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel appears to be out to bankrupt Gawker. Media, watch out.

With enough money, a billionaire could take down an entire publication.
(Image credit: Henrik Kettunen / Alamy Stock Photo)

Gawker Media, long known for its acidic and inflammatory publishing, has always needed to carry a big legal shield. That shield has been tested to its utmost of late, when a Florida jury awarded a staggering $140 million in damages after Hulk Hogan sued the company for publishing his sex tape — far more than Hogan himself even asked for. (The case is being appealed.) But now it's being reported that Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and venture capitalist, is gunning for Gawker.

Nick Denton, Gawker Media chief, initially began to suspect that something was afoot due to odd wrinkles in the Hogan case and a number of other strange lawsuits, all from the same lawyer, suggesting a coordinated campaign to ruin the company through massive legal fees. That suspicion was reinforced Tuesday night when Forbes' Ryan Mac and Matt Drange reported, based on anonymous sources, that Thiel funded the Hogan suit (though they did not discover whether or not he was behind the other cases). While Gawker itself often does not inspire a lot of sympathy, this development is extremely alarming for any media company. It provides a template for any sufficiently rich person to ruin publications they dislike.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.