Gawker shutting down after 14 years

Gawker.com is shutting down next week.

Gawker Media announced the news on Twitter and in a post on Gawker.com.

"After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week."

Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, is buying Gawker Media for $135 million in the aftermath of a $140 million judgment against it in the Hulk Hogan invasion-of-privacy case.

A bankruptcy court judge has to approve the sale at a hearing Thursday.

Gawker Media's other blogs include the women-focused Jezebel, tech-oriented Gizmodo and sports site Deadspin.

Gawker CEO Nick Denton said no company wanted to take on Gawker.com.

"Sadly, neither I nor Gawker.com, the buccaneering flagship of the group I built with my colleagues, are coming along for this next stage," he wrote to staffers in a memo. "Desirable though the other properties are, we have not been able to find a single media company or investor willing also to take on Gawker.com. The campaign being mounted against its editorial ethos and former writers has made it too risky. I can understand the caution."

According to Gawker's website, "The near-term plans for Gawker.com’s coverage, as well as the site’s archives, have not yet been finalized."

Denton informed staffers, "I will move on to other projects, working to make the web a forum for the open exchange of ideas and information, but out of the news and gossip business."

Gawker Media filed for bankruptcy in June, about three months after Hogan won his lawsuit against the company. Gawker founder, Denton, a former Financial Times journalist, also filed for personal bankruptcy.

Denton said Tuesday that the sale to Univision means "our employees are protected and will continue their work under new ownership — disentangled from the legal campaign against the company."

Univision did not immediately return FOX411's request for comment.

Hogan, a former professional wrestler whose real name is Terry Bollea, sued over a tape posted by Gawker showing him having sex with a friend's wife.

The case gained additional notoriety when it was revealed Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel had secretly bankrolled Hogan's lawsuit. Thiel was outed as gay by a Gawker-owned website in 2007.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.