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Peter Thiel Is Now Bidding on Gawker.com (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Its official. "Venture capitalist Peter Thiel has made an offer for Gawker," reports Reuters, adding that the potential acquisition "would let him take down stories regarding his personal life that are still available on the website, and remove the scope for further litigation between him and Gawker." It was Thiel's 2016 lawsuit which bankrupted the site, prompting a Washington Post blogger to write that Thiel "killed Gawker once. Now it looks like he may kill it again."

Elsewhere the Washington Post argues the whole episode "highlighted the immense legal risk borne by news outlets already facing a precarious financial reality in the digital age." The Post's blogger describes Thiel as "a billionaire leveraging his wealth to obliterate a media outlet...as part of a personal vendetta."

Last month former Gawker staffers attempted to crowdfund the purchase and relaunch of Gawker.com as a nonprofit media organization. But their 1,496 backers only pledged $89,844, far short of the campaign's $500,000 target.

4 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Maybe... by lloy0076 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Trump should take notice and buy all the fake news outlets...

    1. Re:Maybe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      He can't afford to because he's a fake billionaire.

      And it's not 'fake news' because he's a real traitor.

    2. Re: Maybe... by Hentai007 · · Score: 1, Troll

      As were yours for the 8 years you cried yourself to sleep with Obama in office. Hey remember when Fox News said Obama was going to invade Texas and take everyoneâ(TM)s guns? What ever happen with that? Fake news I guess

    3. Re:Maybe... by sabri · · Score: 0, Troll

      Thiel was paying for it, so it was kind of his.

      Thiel sponsored indeed. I sponsor the EFF and ACLU, but that does not make their lawsuits mine.

      Blaming Thiel for Gawker's end is the same thing as blaming Trump for Hillary's loss... (and with that, back to the regular /. off-topic Trump/Hillary bashing)

      --
      I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.