Hulk Hogan Accepts $31 Million Settlement From Gawker Media Over Invasion Of Privacy Suit

Hulk Hogan (Tinseltown - Shutterstock.com)

Pro wrestler HULK HOGAN has agreed to accept $31 million settlement from GAWKER MEDIA, which filed for bankruptcy after losing a lawsuit to him earlier this year, the NEW YORK TIMES reports. A jury awarded HOGAN (real name: TERRY G. BOLLEA) $140 million in damages -- originally $115 million, the rest in punitive damages -- for invasion of privacy, when GAWKER posted a video that showed the wrestler having sex with syndicated radio host BUBBA THE LOVE SPONGE's estranged wife (NET NEWS, 3/18).

GAWKER will forgo its appeal of that judgment -- the size of which prompted GAWKER to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Afterwards, it was sold in auction to UNIVISON for $135 million.

“After four years of litigation funded by a billionaire with a grudge going back even further, a settlement has been reached,” GAWKER Founder NICK DENTON said in a blog post. ”All-out legal war with [SILICON VALLEY billionaire PETER] THIEL [who bankrolled the lawsuit] would have cost too much, and hurt too many people, and there was no end in sight. GAWKER’s nemesis was not going away.”

“As with any negotiation for resolution, all parties have agreed it is time to move on,” DAVID HOUSTON, a lawyer for HOGAN, said in a statement.

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