Univision's US$135 million bid wins auction for bankrupt Gawker Media

New York

GAWKER Media, whose fierce independence afforded it an unsparing approach to Web journalism that influenced news organisations across the Internet and the wider media world, was sold to Univision for US$135 million at auction on Tuesday, according to two people who have direct knowledge of the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been made public.

Univision outbid Ziff Davis, and when the deal is made official by a bankruptcy judge later this week, Gawker, a freewheeling collection of websites, will have an outside owner for the first time since its founding 14 years ago.