Gawker CEO Nick Denton Paid Himself $60,000 For A Long Time, Even Though His Company Makes $40 Million Per Year

When Nick Denton founded Gawker in 2002, he was already rich.

Denton had run two successful companies and sold them for a combined ~ $90 million.

Now Gawker's network of sites, which include DeadSpin and Valleywag, rake in a lot of money. Last year they generated a reported $4o million. For a long time, Denton paid himself a small sum.

"I get paid a decent salary now," Denton said in an interview with Jeff Bercovici. "It's very recent [as of two years]. For a long time I was taking $60,000 a year."

Despite his low salary, Denton says his high net worth gives him the freedom he's always wanted.

"It gives me the joy of being free," he says. "It gives me the freedom I always wanted. Everything I am is a result of not caring about social convention and not having to worry about money. I can say whatever I want. The times I'm holding back in this conversation are only to protect other people's feelings. And not even that much. But you only have that kind of freedom, and our writers only really have that freedom-in theory-if they actually have the economic circumstances to allow that."