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After Bankrupting Gawker, Peter Thiel Demands a Chance to Buy Them (buzzfeed.com)

An anonymous reader quotes BuzzFeed: In a federal bankruptcy court filing on Wednesday, lawyers for venture capitalist Peter Thiel objected to the ongoing sale process of Gawker.com, arguing that the billionaire has been unfairly excluded from bidding for the assets of the defunct news website... Whoever ends up buying the site will also buy its archives, which are still up, and will have the right to do with them what they want, including delete them. In the filing, Thiel's lawyers allege that he was prevented from receiving information in regard to a potential bid for Gawker.com by plan administrator William Holden and his counsel, Gregg Galardi, following a Wall Street Journal story in October that said Holden and Galardi had started to market the website to potential buyers...

The Wall Street Journal reported that Holden has been exploring the sale of Gawker.com since July, and that he recently marketed the site's potential legal claims against Thiel as part of its appeal. The marketing of those claims is at the center of Thiel's complaint, in which his lawyers argue that Holden should not be able to conduct a sale of those claims and ask that the court drop a motion that allows for discovery to move forward. Thiel's representatives also said that they contacted those administrating the sale of Gawker.com last month "to express Mr. Thiel's interest in participating in the sale process," but that they had been rebuffed and then ignored.

Thiel's complaint calls him the "most able and logical purchaser."

7 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Gawk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    You're high on pizza parlor sex with children fantasies again, GOP. Bend over and let Roy Moore bugger you for massive corporate tax cuts you nutless little bitch pedo-publicans.

    MAGA = Mueller Aint Goin Away

  2. All well and proper by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is merely an excellent way to acquire new businesses. If the math is there, and you want it, Bankrupt the business first, then buy it. My free market senses are tingling with the new business model. What is more, it is approved in the Holy Bible - reference Uriah the Hittite, killed by King David, who was already yencing Uriah's wife, knocked her up, and after having Uriah out of the way, married her. So all is good.

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    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:All well and proper by Bigbutt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not news actually. Back in 89 I was working for a computer company that made flip-up cases for PCs. The owner was looking for funding an a lawyer came along and said he'd line it up. The owner made purchases based on the agreement but the lawyer bailed on it leaving the owner holding the bag and the business going under. The owner was rumored to have bailed after finding out this is what the lawyer did; offer funding, bail on it, then swoop in and buy the assets after the business goes bust. We lost our last 6 weeks of pay trying to stick it out.

      [John]

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      Shit better not happen!
    2. Re:All well and proper by Solandri · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The anger directed at Thiel over the Gawker case is reminiscent of the anger about the DNC's hacked emails. Those who are angry completely overlook that if Gawker/the DNC hadn't done anything wrong, there wouldn't have been any fallout in the first place. Gawker never would've been sued for publishing Bollea's sex tape. There would've been no evidence of the Democratic party leadership tampering with the primary process. They don't want to hear the message, so they do their best to ignore it and try to shoot the messenger.

      If Thiel had bought judges to engineer some grave miscarriage of justice, I'd have some sympathy for Gawker. But the fundamental truth is most people don't think the right to a free press includes the right to publicize a sex tape recorded without consent. Literally everyone can see themselves somehow winding up in Bollea's (Hulk Hogan's) situation, and they do not want anyone, even the press, to have the right to publicize that tape without their consent. That, plain and simple, is why Gawker lost in a jury trial. That's what bankrupted them, not Thiel helping pay for the lawsuit.

      If you don't want to be bankrupted, don't do stupid, illegal, or ethically questionable things which could bankrupt you. This above all: to thine own self be true. Follow that rule and the only thing you have to worry about is being framed. I think Wikileaks is biased and disagree with its MO, but that doesn't mean I automatically side with the people whose stupid, illegal, or ethically questionable secrets Wikileaks reveals. On the contrary I usually think those people are despicable for doing those stupid, illegal, or ethically questionable things.

  3. Hating on Thiel and alternative facts by mi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Gawker didn't slander Thiel

    You are not wrong here. Indeed, Thiel never accused Gawker of slandering anybody.

    by outing him

    WTF? Thiel was openly gay years before Gawker first heard of him... Get your alternative facts closer to reality.

    the news was true.

    "Revenge porn" is nearly always true as well — the videos and photos are unaltered. Is it Ok to do it? How about "doxing"?

    His revenge campaign is petty and should be thwarted by all means available.

    His revenge campaign is complete — he caused the assholes to run into the ground. He just wants to piss at their crash-site. To "thwart" him, you have to offer the Gawker's creditors a deal better than Thiel is offering. Pony up the cash, or shut up.

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    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  4. Re:Peter Thiel is just another Republican faggot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Nah, you just need to stop pretending you understand what's going on. Like, completely.

    It's not "being gay is magical armor" it's "treat gays like human beings for fuck sake (which many republicans still have issues with)" which means they can do bad things and be hated on.

    You mistook something earlier in your logic, and it's messed you all up. It's ok, just use that thing in your head and you'll be able to follow things again.

  5. Re:This is what an oligarchy looks like., by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Billionaires wanting to destroy critics? Look no further than Media Matters. In a 49-page document marked PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL, the entire anti-Trump plan is laid out. Called "DEMOCRACY MATTERS, Strategic Plan For Action", it lists four leftist partner organizations: Media Matters, American Bridge 21st Century, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Shareblue. These are some of the most well-funded, well-entrenched, and well known leftist organizations in America. Billionaire George Soros is a key backer. Despicable, you say?

    https://mediaequalizer.com/jef...

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    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!