Bankruptcy court records filed on Wednesday related to the liquidation of Gawker Media reveal the company is settling with Hulk Hogan for $31 million.
Earlier this year, Hulk Hogan was awarded $115 ($60 million for emotional damages, $55 million in lost wages) after the trial over Gawker publishing a sex tape featuring the WWE legend. Hogan was later awarded an additional $25.1 million in punitive damages ($15 million from Gawker Media, $10 million from founder Nick Denton and $100,000 from former editor A.J. Daulerio).
In addition to the $31 million settlement, Forbes’ Ryan Mac reports Hogan will also get a % of the proceeds from the liquidation.
Going to clairfy here: Hogan is getting $31 million in cash + a % of proceeds from the sales
— Ryan Mac (@RMac18) November 2, 2016
Gawker founder Nick Denton issued a statement on statement reacting to the settlement, noting that it was time to put his 4-year legal battle with Hogan behind him.
“Yes, we were confident the appeals court would reduce or eliminate the runaway Florida judgment against Gawker, the writer of the Hogan story and myself personally,” Denton wrote. “And we expected to prevail in those other two lawsuits by clients of Charles Harder, the lawyer backed by Peter Thiel.
But all-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight. The Valley billionaire, famously relentless, had committed publicly to support Hulk Hogan beyond the appeal and ‘until his final victory.'”
