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Aug. 18, 2016, 1:28 p.m.
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LINK: gawker.com  ➚   |   Posted by: Joseph Lichterman   |   August 18, 2016

After agreeing to purchase all of the Gawker Media properties earlier this week, Univision has decided to shut down Gawker.com, the site reported Thursday. Gawker said the site will go dark next week.

In a short post, Gawker’s J.K. Trotter said staffers learned Thursday afternoon that the site would close:

Nick Denton, the company’s outgoing CEO, informed current staffers of the site’s fate on Thursday afternoon, just hours before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan will decide whether to approve Univision’s bid for Gawker Media’s other assets. The near-term plans for Gawker.com’s coverage, as well as the site’s archives, have not yet been finalized.

The New York Times reported that the site will remain online but won’t publish any new content after Monday.

Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy in June after it said it couldn’t pay the $140.1 million judgment it owed the wrestler and actor Hulk Hogan in a case that was funded and supported by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel.

On Tuesday, Univision agreed to purchase all of the company’s assets, beating out tech publisher Ziff Davis, which also submitted a bid.

CNN reported on Wednesday that Gawker founder Nick Denton was also leaving the company.

This also marks the end of Gawker’s flagship site, a blog founded by Denton in 2002. Gawker was deeply independent, publishing stories that more traditional outlets wouldn’t touch. The site greatly influenced the culture of online journalism, and it helped launch the careers of many of its former staffers who are now at publications such as Vox Media, The New Yorker, The New York Times, and others.

As news of the site’s closure broke on Thursday, users on Twitter mourned its loss and reminisced:

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