Gawker Staff Is Teaming Up to Out-Bid Billionaire Peter Thiel for Gawker.com

Nothing like an evil billionaire supervillain to bring people together during the holiday season.

Former Gawker.com staff members have united to try to outbid out gay billionaire and Trump supporter Peter Thiel for the Gawker.com domain. Prior to bidding for the site, Thiel bankrupted the site by bankrolling wrestler Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against the news organization.

On a new Kickstarter to save Gawker, staff wrote that the fundraiser is to start The Gawker Foundation, a non-profit meant to preserve Gawker’s archives and restart the site with former editors at the helm. As part of their pitch, the staff wrote about the many stories that Gawker ran before other outlets were willing to take up, including Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, Louis CK and Harvey Weinstein, among others.

“Gawker was willing to chase stories that other outlets considered too risky or salacious,” the site reads. “But the truth is often inconvenient, and Gawker’s work isn’t done. We want to dig deeper. By setting ourselves up as an ownerless, advertiser-less, non-profit media organization, the editorial team will be able to do what they do best.”

According to the fundraiser, more than a dozen Gawker alumni are part of the non-profit mission.

“If you miss Gawker like we do and feel like supporting our mission, become a member, tell your friends, share this project, and send us your tips,” the staff wrote. “We have work to do.”

As of press time, the Kickstarter has made over $18,000 of its $500,000 goal.