What does money buy?
Apparently a campaign to destroy your enemies.
That appears to be the story in the case of who has been backing the legal fights against Gawker Media.
One name has emerged: Peter Thiel, the former co-founder of PayPal, prominent Silicon Valley investor and most recently, California delegate for Donald Trump.
Perhaps motivated by his antipathy for Gawker, Thiel has been backing legal fights against the media firm, says Forbes. The New York Times followed with its own story saying the same thing.
Thiel’s office has not replied to an email asking for comment.
Estimated to be worth more than $2 billion, Thiel’s pockets are deep. As Marc Andreessen, another prominent tech investor, pointed out, wryly:
Of course, if this is true, it means the lawsuits may never end. https://t.co/wCfUjoUTe7
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) May 24, 2016
In 2007, Gawker outed Thiel as gay in a piece titled, “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people.”
The tech investor and libertarian has called Valleywag, the now-shuttered Gawker publication that covered the tech industry, “the Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda.”
Chief among the cases against Gawker has been the high-profile defamation battle brought by wrestler Hulk Hogan (a.k.a. Terry Bollea) over a sex tape Gawker published in 2012. A Florida jury awarded Hogan $140 million, but Gawker and its founder Nick Denton are appealing.
On Wednesday, a Florida judge denied Gawker’s motion for a new trial and wouldn’t reduce the $140 million verdict, the Associated Press reported. Could this be Gawker’s end, with Thiel twisting the knife?
There has been speculation that Hogan was not funding his own legal case. That theory was fueled by several moves by Hogan’s legal team, including the decision not to take a $10 million settlement offer.
The team made another peculiar move – it dropped claims for “negligent infliction of emotional distress.” That claim would have required Gawker’s insurance company to help pay for the defense and help toward settlement payouts.
Adding to the mystery have been subsequent lawsuits against the company brought by the Hogan’s lawyer, Charles Harder. One was brought by Shiva Ayyadurai, who claimed to have invented email.
Denton told the Times:
In L.A. and New York power centers, people are pretty used to an independent and critical press…Silicon Valley coverage with coverage on Valleywag, and the coverage on Gawker and Gizmodo — I think that has been a change for them.
The reaction from some notables in the tech industry, which likes to align itself with free speech rights, has been outrage that Thiel is trying to take down a media outlet:
So Thiel agrees with Trump’s plan to muzzle press that criticizes government, obviously. That’s why he supports him? https://t.co/YsYFSV7emR
— Pierre Omidyar (@pierre) May 25, 2016
Thiel funds Hogan lawsuit. Feather in his cap to wear as Trump delegate. https://t.co/7XiXnz7COb
— Mitch Kapor (@mkapor) May 24, 2016
When the backlash starts in earnest & everyone in tech is hated, it’ll be because of bond villain shit like this: https://t.co/cgHrmJxQ0r
— Anil Dash (@anildash) May 25, 2016
Above: Peter Thiel. (John Green/ Bay Area News Group)
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