The shell of Gawker has settled with Hulk Hogan for $31 million, ending a years-long fight that led to the media company’s bankruptcy, the shutdown of Gawker.com and the sale of Gawker‘s other sites to Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.
Gawker founder Nick Denton in a Wednesday blog post said that the “saga is over.”
The invasion-of-privacy case, which revolved around a sex tape posted on Gawker.com, resulted in a $140 million verdict won by the former professional wrestler in a Florida court. It became even more notorious when it emerged that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had secretly bankrolled the suit. Thiel was outed as gay by a Gawker-owned website in 2007.
The settlement instead means Hogan will get $31 million as well as 45 percent of the proceeds from potential sale of Gawker.com, said Elizabeth Traub, a spokeswoman for Hogan’s lawyer, David Houston. Gawker.com is dormant but its archives remain online.
Houston said in an emailed statement that “all parties have agreed it is time to move on.”