Gawker Media LLC, which owns titles like Jalopnik, Gizmodo, Deadspin and Jezbel, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, following a $140 million judgment in the Hulk Hogan lawsuit, which was secretly financed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist, Peter Thiel.

The media company will not dissolve, though, but will continue operations, as shortly after filing for bankruptcy, Gawker issued a press release saying that they’re entering into an asset purchase agreement with American publisher and internet company, Ziff Davis, which owns IGN, Geek, Ookla and PC Magazine, among others.

“We are encouraged by the agreement with Ziff Davis, one of the most rigorously managed and profitable companies in digital media. A combination would marry Ziff Davis’ strength in e-commerce, licensing and video with GMG’s premium media brands,” Gawker Media founder Nick Denton said in a statement.

Jalopnik’s Editor-in-Chief, Patrick George, posted a response to the reports in the site’s typical style titled “We’re Here, We’re Posting Cool Shit About Cars, Get Used To It”, which supports the above:

“Much to the chagrin of haters everywhere—whom I fully expect will cry themselves to sleep upon hearing this news—Jalopnik continues to exist today despite a bit of news you may have seen. And we’re not going anywhere. That’s good news for you, our loyal base of more than 8.7 million global readers every month, because the Jalopnik staff as of late has been doing some of the very best work it has done all year—and ever,” wrote George.

“As my colleagues at Deadspin so succinctly put it, this bankruptcy is one where a company continues normal operations while restructuring. And Jalopnik will do exactly that too,” he said. “I can promise you that no matter what happens, our writers and editors will always deliver the no holds barred, access be damned brand of journalism you expect every single day.”

These developments came after the New York-based media group found itself in boiling waters when Gawker posted a story  titled “Even for a Minute, Watching Hulk Hogan Have Sex in a Canopy Bed is Not Safe For Work but Watch it Anyway”, back in 2012. The article included a 1 minute and 41 second long video of Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, having sex with the wife of his former friend, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (a.k.a Todd Clem).

The former pro wrestler filed several lawsuits against the online company, not only for the leaked sex tape, for which he was awarded $140 million by a Florida jury, but also one as recently as May, in which he accused Gawker of leaking a court-sealed recording a racist rant against his daughter’s black boyfriend.

It was recently revealed that Hulk Hogan had tagged team with billionaire founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel, who financed the lawsuits. Apparently, Thiel held a grudge against Gawker over a series of articles, including a 2007 post entitled “Peter Thiel is totally gay, people”. The NY Times said that Thiel aided Bollea with a $10 million contribution to cover legal fees.

“It’s less about revenge and more about specific deterrence,” he told the NYT. “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest. I can defend myself. Most of the people they attack are not people in my category. They usually attack less prominent, far less wealthy people that simply can’t defend themselves,” he said, adding that, “even someone like Terry Bollea who is a millionaire and famous and a successful person, didn’t quite have the resources to do this alone.”

Denton had fired back at the time with an interview on CNBC, where he said:

“I can see how irritating Gawker would be to you and other figures in the technology industry. For Silicon Valley, the media spotlight is a relatively recent phenomenon. Most executives and venture capitalists are accustomed to dealing with acquiescent trade journalists and a dazzled mainstream media, who will typically play along with embargoes, join in enthusiasm for new products, and hew to the authorized version of a story. They do not have the sophistication, and the thicker skins, of public figures in other older power centres such as New York, Los Angeles and Washington, DC.”

You may or may not agree with Gawker’s publishing style and content, but it’s one thing seeking justice against the owner and/or an author over a specific subject, and another using your financial might to blindly and unmercifully punish everyone by bankrupting and crumpling an entire company with dozens if not hundreds of employees as if there’s a collective responsibility. Just ask yourself, what does your average author over at Jalopnik have to do with the Bollea / Thiel case other than belonging to the same media group?

For sure, there are some compelling arguments to be made on both sides, but at the end of the day, it’s a very slippery slope when annoyed billionaires – rightfully or not – covertly pay their way through the legal system to crush an entire media outlet as an act of vengeance, and more disturbingly, cast a pall over the First Amendment.