let's also not forget that the reason Thiel had a vendetta against Gawker is that they outed him publicly. They were a horrible gossip rag and I have very little sympathy for them given their actions (which extend far beyond what they did to Thiel and Hogan).

No they didn't. He was out to a wide circle of people already, let alone that publishing that fact is in no way libelous or defamatory.

Feelings about Gawker aside, if they had really outed him and caused him damage because of it, he would have sued them for that instead of searching for another case he could latch onto and bankroll.

I don't think it has to be about damage. I can understand how such an imposition might make him want revenge on a personal level.

At the end of the day it's important to let people come out in a way they choose. He may well have already been out to friends and family but that doesn't mean all is done and dusted, especially for a public figure.

Hogan earned $13 million from just the WCW for a 5 year contract. There's zero chance his total lifetime earnings is $25 million. Probably add a 0 to that.

Those were the golden years. Not that I'm a wrestling expert (quite the opposite), but the WWF was not quite so grandiose - Hogan reported that headlining in Wrestlemania would get you about $150K.

I think the truth lies between. "After rumors of Hulk's infidelity, Linda filed for divorce in 2007. At the time it was revealed that Hogan's personal net worth was $30-40 million."

I don't see it hitting $250M.

And I don't see his future retirement income taking a $50M hit because of the video. He's still entitled to royalties and residuals. His multitude of racist remarks, perhaps, however...

Wrestlemania is a one day event.

Anyways, straight from the horse's mouth: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2043389/Hulk-H...

So 5 years with the WCW netted him $13M, but 10 in the WWF was $220M+?

"Wrestler exaggerates."

From another Hogan lawsuit: "Belzer sued Hogan for $5 million and later settled out of court. On October 20, 2006, on the Bubba the Love Sponge Show, it was claimed (with Hogan in the studio) that the settlement totaled $5 million, half from Hogan and half from Vince McMahon. During his June 23, 2008, appearance on Sirius Satellite Radio's The Howard Stern Show, Belzer suggested that the real settlement amount was actually closer to $400,000."

Regardless of this, the point still stands, Thiel was very much more involved in the Gawker lawsuit than "paying legal costs" and that, regardless of the validity of Hogan's claims, or the trashiness of Gawker, troubles me. "Billionaire bankrolls lawsuit against someone he has a beef with, but could not himself sue, and appears to stage manage case."

How could he win his case if his claimed damages wern't at least somewhat realistic?

Because the decision, and the damages are separate. You can win a case and have "damages reduced on appeal". Or a judge can be involved (depending on state). It can even be a separate hearing entirely.

And there's a litany of court cases where you can find 'unrealistic damages' due to a jury "sending a message".

I get your point, I guess my opinion on this is

1) gawker was trash and probably got what was coming to them. outing someone to get clicks is much more scummy in my opinion than what PT did. the world is a better place now that Gawker is not in it.

2) regarding "legal proxy's acting on someone behest,", I'm not a lawyer but what is the difference between this and HSBS acting as a "proxy" and paying the legal costs of mexican employees (executives actually) [1] who got caught illegal laundry money for the cartels. It is basically the same thing, someone or something with a lot of money throwing around money and affecting legal outcomes (Deferred prosecution agreements)

[1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe/hsbc-became-ba...

i wonder if the original offer (aka ownership of gawker) was worth more than the actual settlement, because the founder filed for bankruptcy and presumably he did not get 100M