![]() But it is kind of tough to be slow-growing and not very profitable,” Horan continued. ![]() It’s OK to be making 40 percent profit margin and growing real slowly. “It’s OK to be growing 50 percent a year and not making any money. “The company was growing below the of other companies in the market, so it was a relatively slow-growing, not very profitable company, which is kind of a bad place to be,” said Horan at one point in a deposition in response to a question on Gawker’s finances. “Despite exceptional legal and moving costs, we expect to be profitable in 2015,” said Denton, in a demure statement lacking his usual hype and bravado.īuried in the voluminous legal filings in the now-delayed trial was this bit of information in a deposition from outside financial expert Peter Horan, hired by Gawker: The outlook for 2015 is a lot more subdued. The rise in costs is being fueled by a move the company is making - from modest Soho digs into new offices later this year on West 17th Street that will eat up some $3 million a year in rent.Īnd earlier this year, Gawker became one of only a handful of digital companies whose members voted to unionize, which will undoubtedly raise the cost of doing business. But expenses rose at an even faster clip, up more than 30 percent, to $37.8 million in 2014 - and they appear to be accelerating this year. Revenue over the period was up 26.6 percent, to $44.3 million, Denton said. While most private companies closely guard their financial info, Denton, anticipating being forced to make the numbers public at the Hogan trial, released certain figures on Thursday. Profits at the privately held Gawker Media Group grew 9.5 percent last year, to $6,529,821, from the previous year. but storm clouds are still gathering around his 13-year-old digital media company as costs zoom. The 48-year-old executive may have temporarily dodged two weeks in the stifling July heat of St. “I will be able to take a summer vacation after all,” he said, visibly breathing a sigh of relief. “We have been forced by this litigation to give up our longstanding independence, but our writers remain committed to telling the true stories that underpin credibility with our millions of readers,” Denton said in the company statement.Gawker boss Nick Denton was sitting in the Gramercy Cafe in Manhattan Thursday morning when he got news that a possible death sentence for his company - the explosive $100 million sex-tape lawsuit filed by Hulk Hogan - had been postponed. Ziff Davis is focused on the brands in the tech, gaming and lifestyle categories, which contribute the vast majority of Gawker Media’s revenue, according to the person familiar with the matter. In an internal memo to employees, Ziff Davis CEO Vivek Shah said acquiring the Gawker websites Gizmodo, Lifehacker and Kotaku “would fortify our position in consumer tech and gaming.” Shah’s memo didn’t mention the flagship site. Thiel has since publicly acknowledged that he’s gay, and called Gawker’s now-defunct blog Valleywag the “Silicon Valley equivalent of al-Qaeda.” The dispute has evolved into a clash of tech titans, as First Look Media, a news organization founded by Silicon Valley billionaire Pierre Omidyar, has said it will support Gawker. Gawker and Thiel have a contentious history: The website outed him as gay in 2007. ![]() Thiel, the libertarian-leaning venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and sits on the board of Facebook Inc., made a financial contribution to the suit. Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, sued the media- and celebrity-focused website in 2012 over the publication of a tape showing him having sex with a friend’s wife, claiming the publication cost him endorsements and inflicted emotional harm. Bankruptcy would allow the assets to be sold “free and clear” of legal liabilities, the company said. The bankruptcy and sale “are intended to preserve the value” of Gawker and fund its appeal of the Hogan verdict, according to the statement. “Gawker Media Group is putting its properties up for sale after a coordinated barrage of lawsuits intended to put the company out of business and deter its writers from offering critical coverage,” the company said in the statement, adding that it failed to persuade the Florida court to stay the litigation while Gawker challenges the verdict. Ziff Davis agreed to pay around $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the pricing isn’t public. Gawker said in a statement that Ziff Davis has agreed to purchase its assets if no better offers emerge in a court-supervised auction.
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