Gawker.com will shut down after fourteen years of operation, the website announced on Thursday.
Nick Denton, the company’s founder and chief executive, told his staffers that the company’s website would close sometime next week. The announcement comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media’s six other websites, four months after declaring bankruptcy.
A judge in Manhattan will rule on the sale at a hearing on Thursday.
Earlier this year, Denton and his company were driven into bankruptcy after losing the $140 million lawsuit against the former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.
Before the announcement, several Gawker editors expressed excitement at the sale but also challenged Univision’s chief news and entertainment officer to remain faithful to fearless journalism.
"We've heard a lot about Isaac Lee's commitment to fearless journalism. He has a reputation for a guy who very much buys into the idea of fearless journalism," Gawker editor Hamilton Nolan previously told CNN. "I hope he demonstrates that by keeping Gawker.com open.”
The terms for Gawker.com’s archives have not yet been determined.
Folks across the media world reacted to the website’s closure after the news it.
“Gawker had an amazing run. My/others' lives and careers would have looked much different—much worse—without it,” Anna Holmes, Jezebel.com founding editor and senior VP of editorial at First Look Media, tweeted.
“The legacy of Gawker is complicated but the impact it had on my career/writing is very significant. A lot of great writers came from there,” Jamilah Lemieux, senior editor at Ebony Magazine, said on Twitter.
“That Gawker doesn't fit into a new company's business plan—even a fine new company!—is something, sadness aside, to be proud of,” Will Leitch, senior writer at Bloomberg Politics, wrote on Twitter.
