10 Things You Didn’t Know about Nick Denton

nick denton

If you pay any attention to the news, you know that the founder of Gawker Media, Nick Denton, has been the speculation of more than a bit of tabloid fodder as of late. It turns out he did some things that were not all that appropriate, and he ended up losing a massive lawsuit. We were all a little – a lot – shocked when it came out that former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan sued the media mogul earlier this year and ended up being awarded $140 million. Since Gawker didn’t have that kind of money to offer, it was apparent that the company would have to file for bankruptcy. When it was announced recently that Gawker was filing for bankruptcy, we were not shocked.

We weren’t even shocked when founder Nick Denton did the same thing in his personal life just a few hours ago. He had no other choice after getting himself into a shocking mess like this one, and he cannot afford to pay out that kind of money to the pro wrestler. He’s got to protect his own finances and get his life in order, and we’re not sure how that will play out for him. Of course, perhaps he might learn a lesson here; be careful.

He owns more than one website

Have you heard of Gizmodo? It turns out that Nick Denton actually owns that site, too. Gawker is not his only line of income and it is not his only website. People are thinking that he is completely going to become financially unable to survive, but they’re wrong in that since he does have some income from his other sites. We’ve been under the impression that he owns as many as nine websites and that some of them bring in as much as 6-figures per month.

He’s personally liable for $10 million

When the court awarded Hulk Hogan all that money, Nick Denton was told he is personally liable for as much as $10 million of that money. He stated publicly that he absolutely does not have that kind of money to his name and that he cannot pay it.

His business is being auctioned

Now that he’s filed bankruptcy to protect himself and his business from creditors, Gawker will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. While the site itself was mostly just fodder and gossip and not all that reliable – as evidenced by the outcome of this particular lawsuit – someone might want to take it, revamp it and change it up.

He’s British

Even I was a little bit surprised to realize that Nick Denton is British. I had no idea, and many other people felt the same way about his heritage. He was born and raised in Hampstead, London, but he currently lives in New York City. We don’t know for how much longer, though, since he’s now apparently quite broke.

He began his media career respectively

Gawker would probably not be considered hard-hitting serious media by most anyone, but Nick Denton did begin his career in media in a place that was a lot more reputable. He was the editor at the University College in Oxford’s college magazine. He then began writing for the Financial Times, and he even co-wrote a financial book that was all about the rise and fall of a bank. I believe that is what we might call a bit ironic.

He’s gay

Another thing we did not know about Nick Denton is that he is a gay man. He’s married to his longtime partner, and now husband, Derrence Washington. The couple wed in a lovely ceremony in 2014 and they appear to be quite happy together. We didn’t know he was gay, and we didn’t know he was married; probably because his personal life has never been very public.

He began Gawker in his apartment

When he first made it his goal to start Gawker, he did it from his apartment in Soho. He worked by himself completely from home, working all hours of the day and night to make sure he was able to succeed in what he was doing. He was actually quite good at it, too, and he was able to build a fairly successful site that did earn him a lot of money. Now, of course, he cannot keep it and he has nothing to his name.

He’s in student loan debt

Much like well over half the graduates of college in the world, Nick Denton claims he has a negative net it back quickly enough to find himself in a positive net worth situation. He says he cannot be responsible for the money owed to Hulk Hogan for this reason and many other reasons.

His net worth

Nick Denton might tell the world he has a negative net worth, but it’s been claimed that the journalist and founder of Gawker has a net worth of approximately $320 million. Of course, it’s also reported that much of his net worth comes from other business ventures with other people, and not necessarily from Gawker. However, we fail to see how he can claim he has a negative net worth.

He filed papers about his net worth

Nick Denton seems to be unable to keep his stories straight about his net worth. One day he’s saying his not worth anything positive because of his student loan debts. The next day he’s saying he doesn’t even have $10 million that he is personally liable to Hulk Hogan for, and the next day it’s being reported by Forbes that he’s filed paperwork with the courts saying that his net worth is estimated anywhere from $10 million to $50 million. We aren’t sure what to think, but we do know that Nick Denton is doing anything he can to keep his money and not give it to Hulk Hogan.

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Written by Tiffany Raiford

Tiffany Raiford is a lifelong Floridian, wife to my high school sweetheart and mother of four littles (two girls and boy/girl twins...no, they are not identical and yes, I'm sure). My kids love to whine, so I love to wine. My loves include nap time, bed time, date night, travel and evenings and weekends when my husband is home because he handles all diaper changes.