Gawker Media's struggles in its ongoing legal battle with wrestling icon Hulk Hogan has apparently forced the company to hire an investment banker to consider different options for dealing with the matter, one of which is a potential sale.
A source familiar with the situations claims that Gawker hired banker Mark Patricof of Houlihan Lokey to look over its options as it deals with its lawsuit with Hogan, real name Terry Bollea, who sued the company in March for violating his privacy after posting a sex tape involving him and his former friend's ex-wife online.
The former professional wrestler has since been awarded $140 million in damages, and Gawker is currently appealing the ruling.
The report follows shortly after Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel was revealed to have financed the lawsuit against Gawker in order to put the company out of business. Thiel said that he was doing this because Valleywag, one of Gawker's blogs, posted a story almost a decade ago that outed him as being gay, along with other stories that he believes were being unfair and targeting his friends and others.
Among those targeted was an executive that one story said was trying to hire a gay escort, and media backlash lead to Gawker deleting the post, resulting in two top editors resigning from the company in the process.
Gawker said that it hired Patricof "recently" but did not given a specific time for when the hire took place.
A company spokesman said that Gawker expects to come out on top with the appeal, adding that it is always looking into contingency plans.
At the trial in March, which took place in Florida, Gawker was revealed to the jury to be valued at $83 million, and Nick Denton, CEO of the company, was said to be personally worth $121 million. Hogan's lawyer also said at the time that Gawker had a gross revenue of $48.7 million last year, and an earlier financial disclosure noted that the company turned an operating profit of $65 million on revenue of $44.3 million the year before.
While Gawker said that it was considering different options on how to handle the case, it did not reveal if it would be able to pay the $140 million verdict.
