The website Gawker, which spent the last 14 years lowering the bar for sleaze and rumor-mongering online, will close next week if a bankruptcy judge approves the sale of media mogul Nick Denton's nine websites to Univision.

The sale became necessary after a $140-million judgment against the publication and Denton for posting a sex tape of WWE legend Hulk Hogan.

The Hill:

Reports emerged late Tuesday that Univision has agreed to buy Gawker Media for $135 million, pending approval by a bankruptcy judge.

Denton, who is also Gawker’s founder and managing editor, reportedly plans on leaving the company if its sale to Univision goes through.

Denton filed for bankruptcy earlier this month after a prolonged legal battle against former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose case was funded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel. 

Gawker Media also filed for bankruptcy protection in June before putting itself up for sale to pay Hogan $140 million in damages.

Hogan, whose legal name is Terry Bollea, sued Denton and Gawker four years ago after they published a portion of a private sex tape featuring him.

Thiel, a major conservative donor, revealed in May that he was bankrolling Hogan’s fight against Gawker Media. Thiel pointed to a post on a Gawker Media blog discussing his sexuality in 2007 as his motivation for funding Hogan's lawsuit.

“I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection to the public interest,” Thiel told The New York Times.

There was no blow low enough that Denton and his band of half-crazed bloggers couldn't deliver.  Sample headline: "Lady Gaga's Vagina Almost Fooled Us Into Forgetting About Her Penis."  Denton's crudity and bad taste were reflected in Gawker's nauseating style, reminiscent of a cheap porn magazine.

No, I didn't like Gawker, and its demise is to be celebrated.  The internet will be a little cleaner when they're gone.