Nick Denton

Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966)[1] is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist and blogger, the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker, until a lawsuit by Hulk Hogan bankrupted the company.[2] For years after starting Gawker Media in 2003, Denton ran the company from his apartment in SoHo.

Nick Denton
Denton in 2007
Born (1966-08-24) 24 August 1966
Hampstead, London, UK
EducationUniversity College School, University College, Oxford
OccupationInternet entrepreneur

Life and career

Denton grew up in Hampstead, the son of British economist Geoffrey Denton and his wife, Marika (née Marton), a Hungarian Jew who survived the Nazis and escaped the Soviet occupation at age 18.[3] A psychotherapist, she died of cancer the year before her son moved to New York City. Denton has a younger sister, Rebecca.[4][5]

He was educated at University College School and University College, Oxford where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He also became the editor of the university's magazine. He began his career as a journalist with the Financial Times. He co-wrote a book about the collapse of Barings Bank, called All That Glitters.[6] He was a co-founder of a social networking site, First Tuesday[7] and co-founded Moreover Technologies[8] with David Galbraith and Angus Bankes, schoolmates from UCS. Denton is the founder of now-defunct Gawker Media, most of the assets of which were sold to Univision following the Bollea v. Gawker case loss and ensuing bankruptcy.

Denton was featured in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 in position #502 with an estimated wealth of £140m (approximately $205m) based on the sale of his previous companies and the then-current value of Gawker Media.[9] Denton lives in New York City.

Marriage

On 16 January 2014, the New York Post reported his upcoming marriage to actor Derrence Washington on May 31.[10][11]

Controversies

Peter Thiel

In 2007, Denton's Valleywag editor Owen Thomas outed Silicon Valley businessman, Peter Thiel as gay in a post entitled "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people."[12] In the comment section of Thomas's post, Denton speculated as to why Thiel kept "his personal life a secret from journalists... for so long." He named "a guy called Matt" as an alleged boyfriend. In response, Thiel called Valleywag the "Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda".[13] Thiel called out the sites for "scar[ing] everybody" and for stifling the culture of Silicon Valley, which is "supposed to be about people who are willing to think out loud and be different."[13]

It was later revealed in May 2016 that he had paid $10 million in legal expenses to finance several lawsuits brought by others against Denton and Gawker Media, including a lawsuit by Hulk Hogan.[14] Denton publicly blamed Thiel several times for having planned to take down Gawker.com.[15][16][17]

Christine O'Donnell

On 28 October 2010, Denton published an anonymous kiss-and-tell piece entitled, "I Had a One-Night Stand with Christine O'Donnell". However, according to the writer, O'Donnell only slept naked with the anonymous writer and did not have sex with him.[18] The National Organization for Women condemned the piece as "slut-shaming". NOW's president, Terry O'Neill, stated, "It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere."[19] Salon's Justin Elliott criticized the ad hominem nature of the article, tweeting "Today, we are all Christine O'Donnell."[20] Gawker.com reportedly paid in the "low four figures" for the story. Denton defended it, praising its "brilliant packaging." [21]

Hulk Hogan and bankruptcy
Main article: Bollea v. Gawker

On October 4, 2012, Gawker published an extract from a leaked sex tape of former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. After Denton refused to comply with a cease-and-desist order from Hogan and a court injunction to remove the video, Hogan sued Gawker for violation of privacy. On March 18, 2016, the jury found in favor of Hogan and awarded him $115 million, which included $55 million in compensatory damages and $60 million for emotional distress. On March 21, the jury awarded Hogan an additional $25 million in punitive damages, including $10 million from Denton personally.[22] Denton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 1, 2016.[23] On March 22, 2017, Hogan and Denton reached a settlement that allows Denton to emerge from personal bankruptcy.[24][25]

References
  1. Sorkin, Andrew Ross (November 2003). "Building a Web Media Empire On a Daily Dose of Fresh Links". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2007.
  2. "Gawker Media to be put up for auction after bankruptcy filing". CNBC. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
  3. NICK DENTON on Peter Thiel, Gawker, & bankruptcy, retrieved 14 November 2019
  4. Idov, Michael (26 September 2010). "The Most Powerful People in New York - How Gawker Media Head Nick Denton Made It by Casting Himself As an Outsider". New York. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  5. Jay Rayner (9 March 2008). "The Brit dishing the dirt on America". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  6. Gapper, John; Denton, Nick (1996). All That Glitters: The Fall of Barings. London: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0241136997.
  7. "First Tuesday". firsttuesday.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  8. "Moreover.com". Archived from the original on 7 April 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  9. McGrath, Ben (18 October 2010). "Nick Denton, Gawker Media, and journalism's future". The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  10. Smith, Stephanie (16 January 2014). "Gawker Media's Nick Denton to marry at Hayden Planetarium". The New Yorker. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  11. O'Shea, Chris (16 January 2014). "Nick Denton to marry in May". Fishbowl NY. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  12. Thomas, Owen (19 December 2007). "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people". Valleywag.gawker.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  13. Frommer, Dan (18 May 2009). "Peter Thiel Says Valleywag Is 'Silicon Valley Equivalent Of Al Qaeda'". Business Insider. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  14. Sorkin, Andrew Ross (25 May 2016). "Peter Thiel, Tech Billionaire, Reveals Secret War With Gawker". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  15. Denton, Nick (22 August 2016). "How Things Work". Gawker. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  16. Scocca, Tom (22 August 2016). "Gawker Was Murdered by Gaslight". Gawker. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  17. Luscombe, Belinda (22 June 2016). "Gawker Founder Nick Denton on Peter Thiel, 'Conflict and Trollery' and the Future of Media". Time. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  18. Anonymous (28 October 2010). "I Had a One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell". Gawker.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  19. "NOW to Media: Stop Reducing Women Candidates to Sex Objects". Now.org. 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  20. "Twitter / elliottjustin: Today, we are all Christine O'Donnell". Twitter.com. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  21. Choire Sicha (28 October 2010). "Gawker Honcho: "Writers are Successful to the Extent That They Can Sublimate Their Egotism"". The Awl. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
  22. "Gawker hit with additional $25m in damages over Hulk Hogan lawsuit". The Guardian. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  23. Sterne, Peter (1 August 2016). "Gawker founder Nick Denton to file for bankruptcy". Politico. Retrieved 1 August 2016.
  24. http://fortune.com/2017/03/23/gawker-nick-denton-peter-thiel-2/
  25. https://www.scribd.com/document/342825710/Denton-Settlement
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