Peter Thiel makes offer to buy Gawker after funding lawsuit to shutter it

Billionaire PayPal co-founder and informal Trump adviser Peter Thiel has submitted an offer to buy Gawker.com after funding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit to shutter the company, Reuters reported Thursday.

People familiar with Thiel’s offer told the news service only that Thiel had made a bid, but could not confirm the value. The website is now only worth a few million dollars, according to Reuters.

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Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, won a $140 million judgement and later a $31 million settlement over the publishing of a sex tape excerpt.

The suit led Gawker to cease operations in 2016. The company is now selling off the Gawker.com domain name and other remaining assets.

Thiel did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters over why he desired to purchase Gawker, but one possible reason could be multiple articles about Thiel’s personal life that remain on the dormant website.

In 2007, the website published an article reporting Thiel’s status as a gay man, outing the businessman and sparking a now decadelong feud.

The website’s bankruptcy attorney, Gregg Galardi of law firm Ropes & Gray LLP, previously attempted to block Thiel from purchasing the site, arguing that Thiel would be an “improper buyer” due to the potential for Thiel to be the target of lawsuits over his funding of Hogan’s case.