It looks like Gawker is pulling out every unethical trick in the book to try and get out of paying Hulk Hogan the money he won fair and square in court. They’re also concerned with doing everything possible to avoid paying the $50 million dollar bond necessary to advance their appeal case. Nick Denton and his thugs are saying the company is only worth $83 million so that they can get this bond reduced and also to get the judgement against them trimmed down if said appeal ends up failing.
…Denton may try to get out of paying a required $50 million bond and the final judgment by lying about his and the company’s worth, the documents charge.
Denton, who is Hungarian and British, appears to have hidden millions of dollars in Gawker profits through inflated licensing fees to a Hungary-based sister company, the documents charge…
In a Florida courtroom in March, the jury was told that Gawker is worth only $83 million, while Denton’s net worth is $121 million — largely based on his shares in Gawker’s parent company, Gawker Media Group Inc.
GMGI is valued at $267 million; Denton has a $117 million portion of it.
Gawker has refused to give up a document called a “transfer pricing study” that would determine whether the fees are inflated, citing lawyer-client privilege, according to court papers.
Gawker has claimed that the $140 million jury award would be “ruinous” to its business, in a bid to get the judge to slash the amount to less than $2 million.
Yet its own pitch book for investors reveals a rosier future: Gawker’s growth plan is to increase its operating income from $6.7 million in 2014 to $43 million in 2019.
I know you all are as stunned as I am that the Cayman Islands loving Denton would try to use every unethical trick in the playbook to avoid paying out a hefty sum to Hogan and his attorneys. Honestly, I could understand reducing the verdict, even though I don’t agree with that outcome. But lowering it down to $2 million is just plain laughable. It’s almost as funny as the fuzzy math they’re using to come up with the $83 million valuation. They can’t help but lie when the truth would most likely help them more in this case. If Team Hogan end up proving this then Gawker is going to be in an even worse position that they were before.
And wouldn’t that be so sad? I get all misty just thinking about it.
