![]() Thiel's level of involvement in each of these initiatives remains opaque. And at least one Silicon Valley billionaire has quietly pursued the concept of a Gawker buyout by indirectly reaching out to former staffers. ![]() Some in the Los Angeles legal community talk openly about a coordinated strategy against Gawker. Specifically, while Gawker has found itself defending numerous Thiel-backed lawsuits attacking its kind of journalism, there has also been an orchestrated effort to initiate a class-action labor suit against it. Rather than simply play the vigilante, available to help those who have been publicly attacked by a company even the most ardent press advocates must hold their noses to defend, Thiel secretly declared a multi-front war against Gawker, seeking to crush it by any means necessary. But over the past two weeks, which has included interviews with more than 50 people, FORBES has pieced together the kind of narrative that a site like Gawker used to feast on. Thiel has been deliberately vague, granting just one interview-to The New York Times -and refusing to talk to FORBES about this subject. Thiel, lauded by a host of other Silicon Valley heavy hitters who have felt Gawker's wrath, from Chris Sacca to Vinod Khosla, has described his efforts as "one of my greater philanthropic things," helping those who have been wronged by a "singularly terrible bully." ![]() Gawker, supported by free-speech advocates like eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has denounced Thiel's gambit as an attempt to permanently snuff out an unpopular media outlet through aggressive litigation. The revelation that Thiel paid Hogan's lawyers-to the tune of about $10 million-has transformed that discussion. The most damaging lawsuit-an invasion-of-privacy case revolving around a sex tape of the wrestler Hulk Hogan (real name, Terry Bollea)-recently resulted in a $140 million jury award and a national debate on the rights of celebrities versus the rights of a publication to disseminate what it considers to be newsworthy. Towering over them all: a 12-story banner extolling HBO's Silicon Valley, which lampoons the culture and excesses of America's technology industry.Īnd lording over that advertisement: the Hollywood Hills mansion of billionaire Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor who also inspired one of the HBO show's most incisive characters, Peter Gregory, a mix of awkward eccentricity and reserved ruthlessness.Īs the past few weeks have shown, the real Thiel is even more eccentric and ruthless than his fictional alter ego.Īs FORBES revealed in late May, Thiel is the clandestine financier of numerous lawsuits targeting Gawker Media, the New York-based company whose biting style of journalism has grated on the egos and sullied the reputations of some of the world's most powerful people. Hollywood's elite driving down Sunset Boulevard are first beckoned to support Netflix's Jessica Jones. It's voting season for the Emmy Awards, which means that electioneering in the form of billboards rising into the haze dominates the Los Angeles skyline.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |