The US-based Spanish-language broadcast network Univision has put in a bid for Gawker, the website that changed the way news and gossip was presented on the Internet with its cutting, snarky humor before being sued by former wrestler Hulk Hogan.

It's not clear how much Univision is willing to pay for Gawker and its stable of sites including women's site Jezebel, automobile-enthusiast Jalopnik, sports news Deadspin and others.  Ziff-Davis reportedly had a US$90 Million stalking horse bid submitted.  But the Univision challenge shows that the network is serious about busting out on the web, having already purchased a stake in the satirical website The Onion earlier this year.

Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June after a Florida jury ruled against it in an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Terry Bollea - better known by his showbiz name Hulk Hogan.  Gawker was ordered to pay Hogan US$140 Million over publishing a sex tape featuring Hogan, although it apparently was not the one in which Hogan was caught saying ugly, racist things.  It also turned out that the lawsuit was secretly funded by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, who had a vendetta against Gawker for outing him as a gay man.  

Although Gawker is appealing the ruling, Thiel is going away.  The New York Times gave Thiel - a man who once wrote that women shouldn't have the right to vote - space on the op-ed page to explain why he thinks he's the good guy in this situation, and not just a billionaire jerk who used his considerable resources to crush a news source he didn't like.  Thiel wrote that he was "proud to have contributed financial support to (Hogan's) case," and that he would support Hogan through the appeals process, and "would gladly support someone else in the same position", suggesting he'll fund other lawsuits against Gawker.