INTERNET WIN

Peter Thiel Has Agreed Not to Buy Gawker

To avoid a potential lawsuit.

Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel agreed not to buy Gawker.com on Wednesday to avoid a potential legal battle stemming from the lawsuit he secretly bankrolled against the blog's publisher, according to the Wall Street Journal. The agreement was filed in bankruptcy court in New York, with Thiel agreeing to “to withdraw from the sale process and to provide the eventual buyer a legal release for articles in the Gawker archive.” It comes after “more than a year of legal wrangling,” and after Thiel made a bid on the site in January, according to the Journal. Thiel secretly funded a lawsuit Hulk Hogan brought against Gawker after the blog published a sex tape of the wrestler, his wife, and Florida radio-show host Bubba the Love Sponge. Thiel has claimed he funded the legal case because Hogan’s privacy was violated. Gawker also published an article outing Thiel as gay, which he said violated his privacy, as well. The lawsuit settled for $31 million, and forced Gawker Media to file for bankruptcy. The site stopped publishing in 2016.