Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966) is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist and blogger, the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective

Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...

, and was the

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edit ...

of the New York-based ''

Gawker ''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded ...

'', until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) bankrupted the company. For years after starting Gawker Media in 2003, Denton ran the company from his apartment in

SoHo Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was deve ...

Life and career

Denton grew up in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, the son of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

economist Geoffrey Denton and his wife, Marika (née Marton), a Hungarian Jew who survived the Nazis and escaped the Soviet occupation at age 18. A

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome prob ...

, she died of cancer the year before her son moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Denton has a younger sister, Rebecca. He was educated at

University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_he ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He also became the editor of the university's magazine. He began his career as a journalist with the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

''. He co-wrote a book about the collapse of

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member ...

, called ''All That Glitters''. He was a co-founder of a

social networking A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

site, First Tuesday and co-founded

Moreover Technologies Moreover Technologies (generally known as "Moreover") is a provider of business intelligence, media monitoring and news aggregation products for enterprises, also offering free news feeds for consumers. Moreover was founded in 1998 by Nick Dento ...

with David Galbraith and Angus Bankes, schoolmates from UCS. Denton is the founder of now-defunct

, most of the assets of which were sold to Univision following the ''

Bollea v. Gawker ''Bollea v. Gawker'' was a lawsuit filed in 2013 in the Circuit Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in and for Pinellas County, Florida, delivering a verdict on March 18, 2016. In the suit, Terry Gene Bollea, known professionally as Hulk Hoga ...

'' case loss and ensuing bankruptcy. Denton was featured in the '' Sunday Times Rich List 2007'' in position #502 with an estimated wealth of £140m (approximately $205m) based on the sale of his previous companies and the then-current value of Gawker Media. Denton lives in New York City.

Marriage

On 16 January 2014, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' reported his upcoming marriage to actor Derrence Washington on May 31.

Controversies

Peter Thiel

In 2007, Denton's ''Valleywag'' editor Owen Thomas outed Silicon Valley businessman,

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...

as gay in a post entitled "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people." In the comment section of Thomas's post, Denton speculated as to why Thiel kept "his personal life a secret from journalists... for so long." He named "a guy called Matt" as an alleged boyfriend. In response, Thiel called

Valleywag Valleywag was a Gawker Media blog with gossip and news about Silicon Valley personalities. It was initially launched under the direction of editor Nick Douglas in February 2006. After Douglas was fired, Thiel called out the sites for "scar ngeverybody" and for stifling the culture of Silicon Valley, which is "supposed to be about people who are willing to think out loud and be different." It was later revealed in May 2016 that he had paid $10 million in legal expenses to finance several lawsuits brought by others against Denton and

, including a lawsuit by

Hulk Hogan Terry Eugene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide and the most popular wrestler of the 19 ...

. Denton publicly blamed Thiel several times for having planned to take down Gawker.com.

Christine O'Donnell

On 28 October 2010, Denton published an anonymous kiss-and-tell piece entitled, "I Had a One-Night Stand with

Christine O'Donnell Christine Therese O'Donnell (born August 27, 1969) is an American conservative activist in the Tea Party movement best known for her 2010 campaign for the United States Senate seat from Delaware vacated by Joe Biden. O'Donnell was born in ...

". However, according to the writer, O'Donnell only slept naked with the anonymous writer and did not have sex with him. The

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

condemned the piece as "

slut-shaming Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing people, especially women and girls, who are perceived to violate expectations of behavior and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. The term is used to reclaim the word ''slut'' and empower ...

". NOW's president, Terry O'Neill, stated, "It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere."

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...

's Justin Elliott criticized the ''ad hominem'' nature of the article, tweeting ''"Today, we are all Christine O'Donnell."'' Gawker.com reportedly paid in the "low four figures" for the story. Denton defended it, praising its "brilliant packaging."

Hulk Hogan and bankruptcy

On October 4, 2012, Gawker published an extract from a leaked

sex tape Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is made porn that seeks to e ...

of former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. After Denton refused to comply with a cease-and-desist order from Hogan and a court injunction to remove the video, Hogan sued Gawker for violation of privacy. On March 18, 2016, the jury found in favor of Hogan and awarded him $115 million, which included $55 million in compensatory damages and $60 million for emotional distress. On March 21, the jury awarded Hogan an additional $25 million in punitive damages, including $10 million from Denton personally. Denton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 1, 2016. On March 22, 2017, Hogan and Denton reached a settlement that allows Denton to emerge from personal bankruptcy.

References

External links

*
Collected news and commentary
at ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

'' *Jack Shafer
Nick Denton, Publicity Cat
''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'', 11 July 2006 *Vanessa Grigoriadis
"Everybody Sucks: Gawker and the rage of the creative underclass"
''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', 22 October 2007 *Ben McGrath
Search and Destroy
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', 18 October 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Denton, Nick 1966 births Living people Alumni of University College, Oxford British bloggers British male journalists British mass media company founders English Jews Gawker Media Jewish bloggers LGBT Jews LGBT writers from England Male bloggers Online journalists People educated at University College School