Not a great day in journalism.
Gawker Media finally settled with Hulk Hogan for $31 million. Gawker filed for bankruptcy after losing to Hogan, and sold off all their sites to Univision. The settlement represents the end of this nightmare for Nick Denton, who went too far and left himself vulnerable to snake like billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel funded Hogan’s lawsuit, then backed Donald Trump. Gawker is settling some other lawsuits, too. Maybe you hated Gawker but it served a purpose. Snark is a good thing for everyone, and now there is none.
Elsewhere the Wall Street Journal is shutting down its Greater New York section, laying everyone off and inviting the employees to reapply for 12 new positions in the main paper. Reports are that 48 others took buyouts, which could mean a loss today of 71 jobs. Yikes. Greater New York is a great read, and will be missed. but more so the people who made it.
I’m hearing more layoffs are coming at Time Inc. There’s also talk of more layoffs coming at places like the New York Times. No one wants to read a physical paper, the advertising has dried up because of it. Everyone wants to read from their phones and tablets, and no one knows how to monetize that two decades into the internet. On top of that, we have Jann Wenner selling 49% of Rolling Stone and US Weekly to the Chinese, turning over the company to his 26 year old son and getting out of Dodge before the UVA trial is over.
And then there’s the whole catastrophe at Gannet and the ill-named Tronc (former Tribune Publishing). The two companies couldn’t make a deal for Gannett to take over Tronc (LA Times, Chicago Tribune). No bank would fund the deal. There will be layoffs on both sides.