The Verge located and published Gawker's federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing, which we have mirrored here

In that document, owner Nick Denton estimates the company's assets at $50 million to $100 million, and liabilities at $100 million to $500 million.

Ryan Mac, a reporter at Forbes, provided Ars with a three-page statement from Gawker, that we have published in full, here.

ORIGINAL: Gawker Media is set to formally declare bankruptcy, and owner Nick Denton plans to put the company up for auction, according to numerous media outlets.

"[Gawker Media] is also now formally entertaining offers to buy the company and says it has a firm bid from publisher Ziff Davis to buy the entire operation for less than $100 million," Recode reported.

Weeks ago, it came out that Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor, was bankrolling the Hulk Hogan defamation lawsuit and seemingly sought revenge over being "outed" as "totally gay" a decade ago by Gawker's now-defunct Valleywag site.

As Ars reported in April 2016, Gawker has already begun the process of appealing the $140 million verdict a jury ordered it to pay in March 2016 for publishing a sex tape of Terry Bollea, better known as former pro-wrestler Hulk Hogan.

Last year, some of the company's financial details were disclosed as it sought outside investment before the then-upcoming trial. The company generated a profit of $6.5 million on $44.3 million in revenue in 2014. Last year, it saw $48.7 million in revenue, according to information made public at trial.

A filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy would have the immediate effect of shielding the company from its creditors, including Hogan and his attorneys. A search of federal bankruptcy records shows that the company has not yet filed.

Gawker was sued again in May 2016 by the same lawyer who brought the Hogan case on behalf of a man who claims to have invented e-mail. In that suit, plaintiff Shiva Ayyadurai demands $35 million from Gawker (Gizmodo's parent company) and a public retraction of Gizmodo’s 2012 articles, which reported: "Corruption, Lies, and Death Threats: The Crazy Story of the Man Who Pretended to Invent Email" and "The Inventor of Email Did Not Invent e-mail?"

Neither Denton, nor Ziff Davis' parent company j2 Global, immediately responded to Ars' request for comment.

Ryan Mac, a Forbes reporter, posted what appears to be a press release from Gawker saying that the bankruptcy process has begun.