Gawker shutting down next week

After more than a decade in business, Gawkerannounced Thursday that it would be shutting down its popular websitefollowing the company’s auctionto Univision.

“After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week. The decision to close Gawker comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media’s six other websites, and four months after the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel revealed hisclandestine legal campaignagainst the company,” a statement on the website said.

“Nick Denton, the company’s outgoing CEO, informed current staffers of the site’s fate on Thursday afternoon, just hours before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan will decide whether to approve Univision’s bid for Gawker Media’s other assets. The near-term plans for Gawker.com’s coverage, as well as the site’s archives, have not yet been finalized.

Univision won a bankruptcy auction on Tuesday to acquireGawker Mediafor $135 million, outbidding media company Ziff Davis , which had made an initial offer of $90 million.

Gawker sought bankruptcy in June after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.

Denton filed for personal bankruptcy this month to also seek protection from the judgment. Ziff Davis had agreed to bring him on as a consultant were it to have bought Gawker.

Hogan’s lawsuit was bankrolled by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, an early backer of Facebook and a co-founder of PayPal. Gawker in 2007 had published an article about Thiel’s homosexuality.

-Reuters contributed to this report