United States Web site was fined 140 million dollars for indecent videos of celebrities: bankruptcy-Gawker Media-IT information
New York's Gawker Media network media submit the $ 130 million for bankruptcy protection in New York on Friday, and auctioned all assets. After the company involving United States famous former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan in an invasion of privacy lawsuit against being fined US $ 140 million.
Gawker today pointed out in a statement by the company, to sell the company and filed for bankruptcy protection in order to preserve the value of Gawker Media Group as a pioneer press company; protection of journalists and other staff working, in addition, allow GMG to raise funds, the $ 130 million in fines in the case of Hulk Hogan's decision to appeal the decision.
Statement said action to persuade the companies are unable to operate, and with intent to prevent its author continued to provide critical coverage, GMG is all possessions up for sale. If no better in a court supervised auction bidding companies, digital media publishing group Ziff Davis agreed to buy Gawker assets.
Ziff Davis is a United States veteran technology media company, originally founded in 1927, its own PCMag.com, Geek.com, Toolbox.com, ComputerShopper, and ExtremeTech technology media assets.
Bloomberg, citing sources, and Ziff Davis to the Gawker Media Group agreed to pay about $ 100 million. CNBC, citing sources said, Ziff Davis bid between $ 9 million to $ 100 million.
Battle of the billionaires and gossip blog
Gawker losing prosecution of cases is a former professional wrestler Hogan (Hulk Hogan), real name Terry Bollea. Hogan was United States indicative figures of the wrestling community, is a symbol of pop culture, worked at the League of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), but in the last year because of racial comments were terminated.
In 2012, he accused celebrity gossip website Gawker has released their wives sex videos with a friend, leading to its injured feelings, asking for compensation of US $ 140 million. A Florida jury ruled in March this year, Hogan received $ 115 million of compensation.
Last month, Paypal co-founder, billionaire Peter Thiel in the lawsuit, the news provided financial support for Hogan. According to the New York Times, Peter Thiel to Hogan the secret sponsorship was $ 10 million.
Thiel and the Gawker website there are some disputes in the early years of the past. Early in 2007, Thiel was the site broke its gay, but since then have to come out in public. Thiel says owned by Gawker blog Valleywag as "Al Qaeda in Silicon Valley" (al-Qaeda).
Media freedom and privacy
The case led to a "privacy and free" argument.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has publicly commented on the matter, said: "as a public figure, face the unpleasant comments the best defense is to develop a thick skin. Because you can never stop people from criticism. Such a thing is not worth spending any energy. ”
United States samansha·baerwasi, a law professor at the University of Buffalo said: "this is a huge loss, and (in the case) celebrity privacy trumps the freedom of the press and the public's right to ... ... This may become the turning point in the law. ”
Fortune's website said: "if (Peter Thiel sponsored by Hulk Hogan) is true, Thiel and Hogan's legal system which makes the already Dim corner (that is, litigation financing) shadow. My colleagues, the luojie·paluofu has a feature, introduced in a notorious case, Chevron is the defendant. He explained that in the close-up, litigation financing is often used to describe investors help finance litigation costs, after winning a partial compensation in return. ”
But some people believe that Hogan's indecent acts against ethics and morality, but Gawker site violations of legal rights.
Peter Thiel recently told the New York Times in an interview that he saw, in attracting attention to process, Gawker uses a beggar-thy-neighbour, devastating the unusual way, even bully others, even if it has nothing to do with the public interest. Gawker Media views many of these articles are targets of misery, he believed that should be fought.
Hogan's lawyer, daiwei·xiusidun, said: "for every people, privacy was violated, this is a victory. ”
美国网站因名人不雅视频被罚1.4亿美元：申请破产 - Gawker Media - IT资讯
纽约网络媒体Gawker Media周五在纽约递交1.3亿美元破产申请保护，并将所有资产拍卖。此前该公司在涉及美国著名前职业摔角选手Hulk Hogan的一宗侵犯隐私官司中败诉，遭判罚1.4亿美元。
Gawker公司今日在声明中指出，出售公司和申请破产保护是为了保存Gawker Media Group作为先锋电子新闻公司的价值；保护记者及其他员工的工作；此外，允许GMG筹集资金，对Hulk Hogan案里1.3亿美元罚款的判决进行上诉。
声明并称，诉讼企图令公司无法运营，并意图阻止其作者继续提供关键报道，GMG正把所有财产拿出来销售。如果在法院监管的拍卖中没有其他更好的竞价体公司，数码媒体出版集团Ziff Davis同意购买Gawker资产。
Ziff Davis是美国老牌技术媒体公司，最初建立于1927年，旗下拥有PCMag.com、Geek.com、Toolbox.com、ComputerShopper以及ExtremeTech等技术媒体资产。
彭博援引消息人士透露，Ziff Davis同意向Gawker Media Group支付大约1亿美元。CNBC援引消息人士则透露，Ziff Davis竞价在900万美元至1亿美元之间。
亿万富翁和八卦博客之战
Gawker输掉的案件控方是前职业摔跤手霍根（Hulk Hogan），真名Terry Bollea。霍根是美国摔跤界的指标性人物，也是流行文化的象征，曾供职于世界摔角娱乐联盟（WWE），但在去年因种族言论被解约。
他于2012年控诉名人八卦网站Gawker披露了其与朋友妻子的性爱影带，导致其情感受到伤害，而要求赔偿1.4亿美元。佛罗里达一陪审团在今年3月裁定，霍根可获得1.15亿美元赔偿。
而上月，Paypal联席创始人、亿万富翁Peter Thiel被爆出在这场诉讼中为霍根提供了资金支持。《纽约时报》称，Peter Thiel向霍根秘密赞助了1000万美元。
Thiel早些年和Gawker网站也有些纠葛往事。早在2007年，Thiel被该网站爆出其同性恋身份，而自此不得不公开出柜。Thiel因此称Gawker旗下博客Valleywag为“硅谷的基地组织”（al-Qaeda）。
媒体自由与隐私
此案引发了一场关于“隐私与自由”的争论。
亚马逊CEO Jeff Bezos曾公开对此事评论称：“做为一个公众人物，面对那些让人不快的言论最好的防御方法就是练就一张厚脸皮。因为你永远都无法阻止人们的批评。这种事不值得你花费任何精力。”
美国布法罗大学法学教授萨曼莎·巴尔瓦斯认为：“这是一笔巨额损失赔偿，（案件中）名人的隐私权胜过了新闻自由和公众知情权……这可能成为法律的转折点。”
《财富》网站文章则称：“假如（Peter Thiel赞助Hulk Hogan）报道属实，泰尔与霍根的这种行径让法律系统里原本就昏暗的角落（即诉讼融资）阴影更重。我的同事罗杰·帕罗夫曾在一篇特写里介绍过一个臭名昭著的案子，雪佛龙是被告。他在特写里解释说，诉讼融资通常是指投资者帮助负担诉讼的费用，胜诉后分得部分赔偿作为回报。”
不过也有人认为，霍根的不雅行径虽然有悖于伦理道德，但Gawker网站侵犯的是法律权利。
Peter Thiel日前接受《纽约时报》采访表示，他看到，在吸引关注的过程中，Gawker使用了损人利己、破坏力惊人的不寻常方式，甚至不惜欺凌他人，即使这与公共利益无关。Gawker Media看法的许多文章都让目标人物痛苦万分，他认为应该对其发动反击。
霍根的律师戴维·休斯敦说：“对每名隐私曾遭到侵犯的人而言，这是一场胜利。”