Business briefing
Gawker.com to shut down next week
Gawker.com, the brash website that broke new ground with its no-holds-barred coverage of media, culture and politics, is shutting down after 14 years, brought low by an unhappy, but deep-pocketed, subject.
The news follows the sale of the site's parent company to Univision. Founder Nick Denton reportedly told staffers Thursday afternoon that Gawker.com will come to an end next week.
Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, is buying the parent company, Gawker Media, for $135 million; the sale follows Gawker's loss in a major invasion-of-privacy case brought by the former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. Gawker had published a video of Hogan having sex with a friend's wife.
A Florida court awarded Hogan, whose lawsuit was secretly backed by Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, $140 million in damages. Gawker Media went into bankruptcy protection after the verdict, and a judge has to approve the sale at a hearing Thursday.
Other Gawker Media blogs may live on. The company currently publishes seven sites in addition to Gawker.com, including the feminist-focused Jezebel, the tech site Gizmodo and the sports site Deadspin. Univision wants those properties to help build a more youthful audience.
U.S. stocks again ticked higher Thursday as the continuing rebound in oil prices gave energy companies a lift.
The gains were modest, as investors have been avoiding big moves. The dollar weakened further, and compared to the yen it's at its lowest in almost three years.
The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 23.76 points, or 0.1 percent, to 18,597.70. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 4.80 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,187.02. The Nasdaq composite rose 11.49 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,240.15.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained $1.43, or 3.1 percent, to $48.22 a barrel in New York. The dollar fell to 99.98 yen, its lowest level since October 2013. The euro rose to $1.1354 from $1.1290.
Officials at the European Central Bank saw the initial impact from Britain's vote to leave the EU as largely confined to that country despite much uncertainty about whether it would hurt the global economy in the future.
That is the view contained in the written account of the eurozone central bank's July 21 rate-setting meeting, released Thursday. The ECB had left unchanged its stimulus policies, which include a benchmark interest rate of zero.
The officials sought to balance the need to reassure markets that they would add more stimulus if needed against ongoing uncertainty about how much the British vote would actually hurt the economy.