Nick Denton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nick Denton
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Denton in 2007
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| Born | 24 August 1966 |
| Education | University College School, University College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Internet entrepreneur |
| Known for | founder of Gawker Media and managing editor of Gawker |
Nicholas Guido Anthony Denton (born 24 August 1966) is a British Internet entrepreneur, journalist, and blogger. He is the founder and former proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and was the managing editor of the New York City-based Gawker, until a lawsuit by Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) bankrupted the company.
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Early life
Denton grew up in Hampstead in London, the son of British economist Geoffrey Denton and his wife, Marika (née Marton), a Hungarian Jew who survived the Nazis during the Holocaust in Hungary and escaped the Soviet 1956 invasion of Hungary at age 18. A psychotherapist, she died of cancer the year before her son moved to New York City. Denton has a younger sister, Rebecca.
He was educated at University College School (UCS) and University College, Oxford, where Denton studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He also became the editor of the university's magazine, The Isis Magazine.
Career
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Denton began his career as a journalist with the Financial Times, a British daily business newspaper. He co-wrote a book about the collapse of Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, called All That Glitters (1996).
He was a co-founder in 1998 of a social networking site, First Tuesday. That same year Denton co-founded media-monitoring service Moreover Technologies with David Galbraith and Angus Bankes, schoolmates from UCS. Shortly after, he moved to San Francisco in the United States, and in the summer of 2002 he moved to New York City.
Gawker Media
Denton founded Gawker Media in 2002, initially running the company out of his apartment in New York City's SoHo. Gawker Media initially had only two internet sites — Gawker (a news and gossip site) and Gizmodo (a gadgets and technology blog). Gawker Media blogs expanded to include Jezebel (aimed at women), and Deadspin (a sports site), as well as Lifehacker (tips to live life better), Jalopnik (automotive culture), io9 (science, futurism, and science fiction), and Kotaku (video games and culture). In 2008 Gawker sold music site Idolator to Buzz Media, Gridskipper to Curbed, and consumer affairs site Consumerist to Consumers Union. In 2010, Gawker Media attracted 17.5 million US visitors per month. Up until 2012, Denton paid himself a salary of $60,000 a year.
Gawker had revenue of $48.7 million in 2015. Most of its assets were sold to Univision for $135 million following the Bollea v. Gawker lawsuit loss and ensuing 2016 Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Personal life
Denton was featured in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 in position #502, with an estimated wealth of £140 million based on the sale of his previous companies and the then-current value of Gawker Media.
On 31 May 2014, Denton married actor Derrence Washington. He lives in New York City.
