Hi, I'm Kara Swisher, executive editor of Recode, and you're listening to Recode Media with Peter Kafka, powered by digital media.

Before we launch Recode Media as its own podcast, you may have heard Peter over at my podcast, Recode Decode.

Here's one of the fantastic interviews he did for Decode. Let's listen.

Recode Radio presents Recode Decode, hosted by Kara Swisher, powered by digital media.

I'm Kara Swisher, executive editor of Recode, and you're listening to Recode Decode, a podcast about

tech and media's key players, big ideas, and how they're changing the world we live in.

This is our special weekly segment with

host Peter Kafka, Recode Senior Editor and Producer of the Code Media Conference. Joining Peter each

week are some of his favorite movers and shakers in the media world. This week, Peter talked

to Nick Denton, the founder of Gawker Media, and Jason Epstein, the managing director of Columbus

Nova and a new member of Gawker's board. Denton sold a minority share of his company to Epstein, the managing director of Columbus Nova and a new member of Gawker's board.

Denton sold a minority share of his company to Epstein's firm as Gawker finds itself fighting a costly legal battle against the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Here's Peter.

Thanks, Kara.

I'm here with Nick Denton, runs Gawker Media and Jason Epstein, who now owns part of Gawker Media. Am I summing that up correctly, Jason? Yep. Sounds about right. This was fortuitous. I've been trying to get Nick to do an interview for a while, and Nick said, sure, and as it turns out, Nick agreed to do an interview just after Jason via your investment firm, which is Columbus Nova. Nova Technology Partners. Columbus Nova Technology Partners has now in Gawker Media. And you put how much money into the company? Nick is shaking his head, no. We're not talking about the financial. We're not talking about the financial. We can say that the deal is closed. We're taping this the day after it's closed. I know Gokam Media has a reputation for transparency, but there are limits. You're not going to leak out. There's no memo coming out saying, here's the deal, here's the distribution.

No.

We can ask people. So this is interesting, Nick. You've been publicly saying for a while that you're going to need to raise some money. You needed to raise money in particular, you said, because you've got a Hulk Hogan trial coming up. So in my mind, when you say I need to go raise money because I'm being sued by a former professional wrestler, that puts you the position of sort of needing the money

more than you might like to have it. It means that you probably positioning. It seems like

you're not bargaining from strength when you're going out asking for money. Is that a fair way

of assessing it? I think we're bargaining from strength in that we have the largest audience of pretty much

any independent media company that's out there. And an audience that's actually pretty much as big as

...