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Gawker settles with Hogan

The long-running legal fight between the now-defunct Gawker Media and Terry Gene Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, has been settled at last.

The organization has agreed to pay Bollea $31m to settle all claims relating to the publication of a tape of the former professional wrestler having sex with a friend's wife. In May, a court awarded $140m in damages, which caused Gawker to file for bankruptcy and sell itself to Univision.

The case caused ructions in Silicon Valley after billionaire Facebook backer Peter Thiel admitted that he was funding the Hogan case against Gawker, as well as other legal actions, as a method of shutting Gawker down. Thiel held a grudge against the publication for outing him as gay.

"After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached. The saga is over," said the former Gawker editor Nick Denton.

"It's a shame the Hogan trial took place without the motives of the plaintiff's backer being known. If there is a lasting legacy from this experience, it should be a new awareness of the danger of dark money in litigation finance." ®

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