Hulk Hogan brought down the original Gawker mothership. But the radical left-wing's site philosophy has been dispersed across much of new media. And its core sites are still alive.
The question is for how long?
The Wall Street Journal reported in March that Univision had hired outside consulting firm Boston Consulting Group in the wake of its failed initial public offering. The consultants advised Univision to cut up to 35% of the budget—a statistic that alarmed staff at many levels of the company.
It's an unhappy time in Gawkerland.
Univision’s head of digital media received a frosty welcome during his first meeting with Gizmodo Media Group, the digital media company that includes Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, and others.
“You’re talking to a room full of people who have been through a lot of bullshit through a lot of years,” Kotaku editor Stephen Totilo quipped, a reference to Gawker’s high-profile legal battle with wrestler Hulk Hogan. “We kind of thought we were done with it, so it’s frustrating to be back. If it's not the Florida jury, it's the Florida management.”
In the past several weeks, top managers including GMG CEO Raju Narisetti, Fusion Media Group president Felipe Holguin, and Fusion TV’s president Daniel Eilemberg left the company, ceding several top Univision executives more direct control over the Gizmodo brands under Fusion Media Group umbrella.
It's a familiar story. Gawker was never run on a particularly sound financial footing. And big companies buy trendy ones, gut them and then run them to their own liking,
One staffer lamented that GMG management was being kept in the dark, and several asked what they should tell panicked staffers who had begun seeking other jobs.
That's the problem. Gawker's attitude and philosophy has been widely dispersed throughout the media.
“It doesn’t seem like Univision understands what we do, but frankly in a lot of cases, has any interest in understanding what we do,” Deadspin’s editor in chief Megan Greenwell said.
Tell lies, smear people, destroy their lives, sneer at the casualties.