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Univision Holdings Inc won a bankruptcy auction on Tuesday to acquire U.S. internet publisher Gawker Media LLC for $135 million, outbidding media company Ziff Davis LLC, which had made an initial offer of $90 million, Reuters reported yesterday. Univision's winning bid for Gawker, which will go before a bankruptcy judge tomorrow, shows how the U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster is seeking to expand its digital media properties and is not shying away from a news brand that has often courted controversy to build a cult readership. Univision was the only challenger to Ziff Davis, whose stalking-horse bid had set the floor for others in the auction. Gawker sought bankruptcy in June after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.

Univision Holdings Inc. has offered to acquire Gawker Media LLC, challenging a $90 million stalking-horse bid from media company Ziff Davis LLC in the auction for the U.S. internet publisher, Reuters reported today. Univision's bid for Gawker illustrates how the U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster is seeking to expand its digital media properties, and is not shying away from a news brand that has often courted controversy to build a cult readership. Despite the media hype that is usually associated with Gawker, however, Univision's sole bid shows that interest in the auction was otherwise limited. An investment banker representing Gawker said in court last month that he had a list of 40 potential buyers he planned to market the company to. Gawker filed for bankruptcy in June, with a pre-packaged acquisition proposal from Ziff Davis, setting the floor for any other offers at the bankruptcy auction. The New York-based publisher sought bankruptcy after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.

Embattled investor Lynn Tilton defended herself in a Delaware court on Wednesday against allegations that she had not disclosed the complex holdings of $2.5 billion distressed debt funds that she lost control of this year, Reuters reported yesterday. The flamboyant Tilton testified for five hours about complex loan vehicles known as the Zohar funds that she created more than a decade ago. The funds have financed her investments in ailing companies such as Dura Automotive Systems, earning her the title of "Diva of Distressed." However, after one of the three Zohar funds defaulted, Tilton's Patriarch Partners investment firm stepped down as the collateral manager and was replaced by restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal in March. In April, A&M sued Patriarch to get access to documents on the Zohar collateral. Tilton testified in Delaware's Court of Chancery that A&M had all the documents it needed. She said some Zohar holdings included the equity of borrowers, and those borrowers were also companies in the Patriarch Partners portfolio. Tilton said that the Zohar funds did not have to provide stockholding details to A&M, because she retained control over the equity.

Shareholders won’t get an official voice in the bankruptcy of SunEdison Inc. because the company is “hopelessly insolvent,” with debts outweighing assets by at least $1 billion, a bankruptcy judge has ruled, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The decision from Judge Stuart Bernstein followed a court fight aimed at proving the solar-power developer has enough value left to offer hope that shareholders would avoid a wipeout in bankruptcy. Judge Bernstein, who has presided over SunEdison’s chapter 11 case from its start in April, said that it is “substantially unlikely” the company would be able to pay off its debts. Even working with book values on paper and estimates of what asset sales would bring, SunEdison would come up from $1 billion to $2.5 billion short of debts, the judge said. The judge turned down a request for an official committee to represent shareholders in SunEdison’s bankruptcy case, a bid that was driven in part by shock over the rapid decline in value in the company.

General Motors Co. sought a rehearing of an appeals court ruling that exposes it to hundreds of potential lawsuits and some $10 billion in liabilities from faulty ignition switches, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Lawyers for the nation’s largest auto maker on Wednesday said that the court made two “fundamental errors” when it last month ruled against the company’s efforts to use its 2009 bankruptcy to shield itself from the litigation over the ignition switches. GM said the court’s decision, if not reversed, would permanently damage the bankruptcy process that saved it from collapse in 2009. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit last month denied GM’s attempt to use its bankruptcy to block lawsuits seeking potential claims over the defective ignition switches, which have been linked to 124 deaths. The ruling overturned a bankruptcy judge’s earlier decision to bar claims that arose before its chapter 11 filing. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Don’t miss the Great Debate at ABI’s Views from the Bench conference on Oct. 7, as Judge Robert Gerber (ret.) & Goodwin Procter's William Weintraub debate whether §363 sales should lawfully be free and clear of successor-liability claims. Click here to register!