WGNO

Gawker files for bankruptcy and seeks sale after $140 million Hulk Hogan verdict

(tribune media wire)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Gawker Media has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is in talks to sell the company, a Gawker source said Friday.

The dramatic move was motivated by the company’s expensive legal fight with Hulk Hogan, a court fight that was funded by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel.

The filing came on Friday in the federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan.

It came the same day that a Florida judge granted Gawker’s motion to postpone the staggering $140.1 million judgment a jury awarded to Hogan in March in the former professional wrestler’s invasion of privacy trial against the company.