Gawker Media said Thursday it will close its always brash and sometimes lacerating news and gossip site, Gawker.com, next week, in a capitulation to legal troubles secretly engineered by a business tycoon who bore a long-standing grudge against it. Gawker was ostensibly brought low by an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit by former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan over a sex tape of Hogan that Gawker posted in 2012. He subsequently paid for the payback, covering millions in legal fees for Hogan and a series of other plaintiffs whose suits are pending. “We have not been able to find a single media company or investor willing also to take on Gawker.com,” he said. Among others, Gawker broke stories about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s cocaine habit and about Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Source: Washington Post August 18, 2016 18:18 UTC