NEW YORK _ Univision Holdings Inc. is buying Gawker Media, the online media and blog network in bankruptcy.
A person familiar with the proceedings said the only other bidder for Gawker, Ziff Davis, withdrew its $90 million bid Tuesday. The sale to Univision, holder of the leading Spanish-language TV network, will need the approval of a U.S. bankruptcy court judge.
A takeover of Gawker Media contributes to Univision's efforts to expand its digital media properties aimed at reaching younger consumers. Earlier this year, Univision took over ownership of the cable network Fusion, which targets millennial viewers. The company has recently added to its digital portfolio by taking stakes in online humor site the Onion and the African-American news site the Root.
Gawker Media's properties include the flagship gossip site Gawker, the female-oriented Jezebel, the sports site Deadspin, the tech-oriented Gizmodo and Jalopnik, which is aimed at auto enthusiasts.
The company founded by Nick Denton, was forced into bankruptcy this spring after a Florida jury awarded $140 million to Terry Gene Bollea, better known as Hulk Hogan, who had sued Gawker for invasion of privacy.
In October 2012, Gawker posted a two-minute excerpt of a sex tape featuring Bollea and a friend's wife without his permission.
Peter Thiel, a Silicon Valley investor and co-founder of the online payment service PayPal, helped finance Bollea's case. Thiel provided the support because he believed Gawker invaded his privacy when it revealed in a 2007 blog post that he is gay.
"I had begun coming out to people I knew, and I planned to continue on my own terms," Thiel wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece published Monday. "Instead, Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it."
Gawker maintained it had a 1st Amendment right to present the tape excerpt on the web because Gollea had publicly discussed his sex life in the past, making it a "matter of public concern."
Gawker's counsel was unable to get the court to hold the damage award to Gollea while it appealed the verdict, which led to the company into bankruptcy.
Gawker's flagship website has since moved away from celebrity and media gossip to more political content. The transition has led to a decline in traffic.
In the weeks leading up to the bankruptcy auction, there had been speculation that dozens of media companies were interested in Gawker Media.
