Conspiracy: A True Story of Power, Sex, and a Billionaire's Secret Plot to Destroy a Media Empire

by Ryan Holiday

Conspiracy theories are legion. Conspiracies are rare. And of the few that do exist, fewer are ever discovered, let alone explained. This story is the exception.

In 2016, media giant Gawker was forced to declare bankruptcy after a $140 million dollar judgment in court over an illegally recorded sex tape of Hulk Hogan. The case was no accident: it was the result of a nearly decade-long plot masterminded by Facebook and Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel.

With exclusive access to all the key players, Ryan Holiday takes us behind the scenes of this extraordinary and at times surreal story, and transforms the events into both a dissection of that controversial methodology - conspiracy - and an eye-opening cautionary tale on the use, abuse and consequences of power and secrecy in the modern age.

• ISBN10: 178283463X
• ISBN13: 9781782834632
• Publish Date: 1 March 2018 (first published 27 February 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Profile Books Ltd
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[adamfortuna]

As someone who grew up in Pinellas County Florida, watching Hulk Hogan, spending a lot of time online during a time when Gawker Media sites were wildly popular and following Peter Thiel's career (and reading his book), every bit of this book was oddly familiar to me.

Conspiracy is a story about a lawsuit. That lawsuit is a claim by Hulk Hogan against Gawker media after they published a sex tape made without the wrestlers' permission. The lawsuit seemed like David vs Goliath, but in actuality, Hogan had the full backing by a billionaire to keep the lawsuit going.

I read Gawker back when it was running - usually when a scandalous story was linked to on Digg. This book turned that history on its head, causing me to realize just what I was supporting with those pageviews.

Although I don't back Thiel either. As a prominent Trump supporter, he lost all credibility with me as someone fighting against bullies.

Even with a cast of questionable characters, this story reads like a real-life version of The Count of Monte Cristo.