Hulk Hogan's Long standing legal battle with Gawker ends with £25 million settlement

Gawker has settled with Hulk Hogan for $31m (£25m), ending a long fight that led to the media company's bankruptcy.

The settlement comes after former pro-wrestler Hogan was awarded $140m by a Florida court for invasion of privacy over the publication of a video showing him having sex with a friend's wife.

That judgment saw Gawker falter in June, although its sister websites such as sports site Deadspin and women's site Jezebel, were bought for $135m by media company Univision Holdings.

Wednesday's settlement will see Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, paid the $31m plus a share of Gawker assets that were sold as part of its bankruptcy process.

Gawker's founder Nick Denton said that they had agreed to the settlement instead of appealing the initial judgment because of Hogan's backing from Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal.

Mr Thiel's involvement had been controversial, dividing media and press freedom advocates after it was revealed that his support was part of an effort to drive Gawker out of business.Mr Denton wrote in a blog post: "We were confident the appeals court would reduce or eliminate the runaway Florida judgment but an all-out legal war with Thiel would have cost too much and hurt too many people and there was no end in sight."