Gawker Media Pulls in Surprising Revenue Numbers Despite Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Scandal and Bankruptcy
Find out how much the company actually improved financially since last year.
In a rather awkward turn of events, Gawker Media has been forced into bankruptcy and will be auctioned off next month. To refresh your memory, the famed online media forum published an explicit sex tape of Hulk Hogan, which of course the legendary wrestling icon objected to. The “Hulkster” along with some financial backing from Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel–who spoke at the Republican National Convention–filed a lawsuit against Gawker’s founder Nick Denton and won the case.
In an ironic twist to the story, Gawker Media just so happens to be generating more money than it did last year through advertising and e-commerce affiliate links despite its troubles. Generating over 62 million unique visitors on the U.S. side, that puts it roughly 8% ahead of their position last year. As far as actual revenue goes, Gawker Media LLC was listed as raking in $17.8 million USD in revenue through the first five months of 2016 in comparison to $15.8 million USD over the same five-month span last year. For more, check out a conversation Nick Denton had with Recode’s senior editor Peter Kafka, discussing the case and the future of Gawker Media.
