Two years after buying, Univision wants to sell its Gawker, Onion portfolios

Enlarge / Want to buy these official The Onion mugs? They're only $15. Owning the full Onion and Gawker portfolios, on the other hand, may cost more. (credit: The Onion)

After a rapid acquisition of English-speaking online properties in 2016, Univision Media Co. is reversing course. On Tuesday, the Hispanic America-focused media company announced its intent to sell all assets related to two of its biggest 2016 pickups: Gizmodo Media Group (formerly Gawker Media) and The Onion.

Univision (UCI) "determined that pursuing a sale of GMG and The Onion collectively will allow UCI to focus on its core assets and further strengthen UCI's position as the No. 1 media company serving US Hispanics, while enabling both GMG and The Onion even greater opportunities to grow under new ownership," the company wrote in a Tuesday statement. This announcement of a "potential sale" comes with the caveat that a transaction may not take place.

Univision acquired Gawker Media by outbidding Ziff Davis with its $135 million offer in August 2016. Days later, Gawker.com shut down in the wake of successful litigation by Terry "Hulk Hogan" Bollea over the site's report on his mid-2000s sex tape. That court case resulted in a $115 million judgement in Bollea's favor. At that time, various Gawker staffers were absorbed by other Gizmodo Media Group sites, and all of those-Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Splinter, The Root, Kotaku, Earther, and Jalopnik-are now on the auction block.

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