Gawker says it plans to relaunch on Monday - and the company might even change its name

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Nick Denton gawker

Nick Denton/Photograph by Benedit Evans

Gawker founder Nick Denton

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster for Gawker Media. After days of tumultuous internal debates which included the resignation of two top editors, the company's CEO Nick Denton has announced that it's planning a relaunch for Gawker.com this Monday, according to Digiday - and the company could change its name too.

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Gawker's week of controversy and resulting tailspin is all thanks to a controversial post which outed a rival executive for allegedly seeking out the services of a male escort.

When the post was published, Gawker was hit with a flurry of criticisms. Denton ultimately decided to take the post down.

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A vocal camp inside Gawker's editorial department went bananas at the post's removal. To them, this seemed like a media company folding to external business pressures, with editorial boundaries being crossed by the management team. The executives who took part in the vote to take down the post were part of the business team and not the editorial staff.

Denton spent the last week meeting with the editorial staff, trying to explain the changes he sees necessary for the company. Now, it seems he's ready to package all of this into a formal relaunch, scheduled to happen Monday morning, Digiday reports.

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What's even more interesting is that Denton is even considering changing the name of the company. "We produce a lot of drama. And sometimes, we become the story. We don't want Gawker.com to be limited by the needs of the company. And there is a strong argument for a company name that is not the same as Gawker.com," he told Digiday.

What will the new Gawker look like? Capital New York reports that Denton is saying it will likely be "20 percent nicer."

What that means in reality remains to be seen. That is, until Monday.

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