Peter Thiel: 'Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it'

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Peter Thiel

(Investor and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel.AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Peter Thiel has weighed in on the sale of Gawker Media.

The billionaire investor wrote an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times. He discussed why he chose to begin his battle with Gawker, which began when Gawker outed him in 2007.

Here's how Thiel describes it:

"I also know what it feels like to have one's own privacy violated. In 2007, I was outed by the online gossip blog Gawker. It wasn't so many years ago, but it was a different time: Gay men had to navigate a world that wasn't always welcoming, and often faced difficult choices about how to live safely and with dignity. In my case, Gawker decided to make those choices for me. I had begun coming out to people I knew, and I planned to continue on my own terms. Instead, Gawker violated my privacy and cashed in on it."

Thiel secretly funded several lawsuits against Gawker Media, including the high-profile suit brought by Terry Bollea, known as Hulk Hogan, that bankrupted Gawker Media and its founder, Nick Denton. He published the op-ed as final bids for Gawker Media are due by 5 p.m. Monday.

Thiel said he plans to continue supporting Bollea in his case against Gawker — and that he "would gladly support" anyone else in the same position.

Read Thiel's full column on The New York Times' website »

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