Image credit: Univision/Facebook

Following a day-long auction against the online publisher Ziff Davis, the media conglomerate Univision is buying Gawker Media’s assets—including Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, and Lifehacker—for $135 million. However, the fate of the company’s flagship website, Gawker.com, remains unclear.

Recode’s Peter Kafka reported yesterday that Univision’s final and successful offer shall “encompass all seven of Gawker Media’s sites, including Gawker.com,” but following his report, Gawker.com staffers were told that Univision has not yet decided whether the company will take Gawker Media’s namesake website under its wing. Both Lloyd Grove of The Daily Beast and Sydney Ember of the New York Times later noted that the future of Gawker.com remains an open question.

While Gawker.com was included in Univision’s winning bid, the proposed acquisition agreement gives Univision the option to transfer Gawker.com back to the bankrupt Gawker Media LLC prior to the deal’s closing in September. Alternatively, Univision could choose to acquire Gawker.com’s assets but decide not to operate it.

Excluding Gawker.com from the acquisition, or deciding to end its editorial operations, would not necessarily entail layoffs, as Univision executives have committed to finding positions for current Gawker.com staffers elsewhere within Univision, including among the other six sites.

Univision has not publicly commented on its acquisition of Gawker Media. And its hesitance toward Gawker.com does not seem to be widely known within the company. Following news of the sale, Felix Salmon, a senior editor at Fusion, wrote on Twitter that Univision chief news, digital, and entertainment officer Isaac Lee’s appetite for “honest, fearless journalism” matched that of Gawker Media founder Nick Denton. He also said: “I’ve known and admired [Lee] for [approximately] 13 years, and can unequivocally say that he is the best possible boss that Gawker Media could have.”



Heather Dietrick, the president of Gawker Media, informed the rest of company of the news at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday morning. She did not know exactly when Univision would make a final decision about Gawker.com, but said that she hopes one will be made soon.