Gizmodo

• 1. Introduction

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  Gizmodo is an American website about design, technology, science, and science fiction, and its name is pronounced giz-MOH-doh. By the middle of 2004, the site and its sibling Gawker together brought in roughly $6,500 a month. That is a small sum for a publication that would go on to run editions in many languages and pass through the hands of owners on two continents. Nick Denton ran the Gawker Media network that gave it a home. How did a young technology blog build an audience abroad? Why did it spin off sister blogs about pop culture and the environment? What brought a search warrant to the home of one of its editors? And why did its owners keep changing?

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• 2. Roots and Reach

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  Peter Rojas edited the blog when it launched in 2002. He was later recruited by Weblogs, Inc. to start Engadget, a similar technology blog.

  In 2005, VNU Media and Gawker Media formed an alliance to republish Gizmodo across Europe. VNU translated the posts into French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, and added stories of European interest. Mediagene launched Gizmodo Japan in 2006. A year later, Allure Media started an Australian edition under license from Gawker Media. It carried extra Australian reporting and was branded Gizmodo AU.

  In November 2007, HUB Uitgevers took over the Dutch magazine license from VNU Media. Gizmodo Brazil arrived in September 2008 with Portuguese-language writing. Gizmodo UK launched in September 2011 in partnership with Future, to cover British news. The same year, the main site went through a major redesign.

  In 2013, Matt Novak moved his Paleofuture blog to Gizmodo from Smithsonian.

  Some of the foreign branches did not last. In 2018, Nine Entertainment merged the business behind PEDESTRIAN.TV with Allure Media and formed the larger Pedestrian Group. The company took the name Pedestrian and also held Business Insider Australia, Kotaku Australia, and POPSUGAR Australia. Gizmodo UK shut down in September 2020, and its web links now redirect to Gizmodo.com. In July 2024, Pedestrian announced that Gizmodo AU would close during a restructuring.

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• 3. Sister Blogs

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  Annalee Newitz launched io9 as a standalone blog in 2008, under Gawker Media. It focused on science fiction and fantasy pop culture. In 2015, a reorganization under Gawker folded it into Gizmodo. Its staff kept working under the Gizmodo banner, writing about science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology, and astronomy. In 2021, James Whitbrook replaced Jill Pantozzi as the deputy editor of the io9 team.

  Earther arrived in September 2017 as an environmental news blog. It set out to chronicle three subjects: the future of Earth, the future of humans on Earth, and the future of life on Earth. Founding managing editor Maddie Stone said the moment felt "salient and important" for a destination where readers could follow new studies. She also named natural disasters and their effect on people, major environmental policies, and conservation stories as targets.

  The work earned recognition. Former Earther journalists Yessenia Funues, Brian Kahn, and Molly Taft won SEAL Awards for their environmental reporting.

  By November 2023, broader layoffs at G/O Media had reached the blog. Angely Mercado, its last remaining member, was laid off, and no staff were listed for Earther afterward.

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• 4. A Phone in a Bar

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  In April 2010, Gizmodo paid US$5,000 for a device that turned out to be an Apple prototype of the iPhone 4. Brian J. Hogan sold it. He had found it unattended at a bar in Redwood City, California, a month earlier. A UC Berkeley student named Sage Robert, an acquaintance of Hogan, allegedly helped arrange the sale after Hogan failed to track down the owner.

  Apple confirmed that the phone was its own. Bloggers including John Gruber and Ken Sweet then speculated that the purchase might have violated the California Penal Code.

  On the 26th of April 2010, after Gizmodo had returned the phone, officers acted at Apple's request. California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team executed a search warrant on the home of editor Jason Chen. They seized computers, hard drives, servers, cameras, notes, and a file of business cards. San Mateo County's Chief Deputy District Attorney, Stephen Wagstaffe, directed the operation. Gizmodo and the prosecution later agreed that a special master would review the seized items and decide whether they held relevant information.

  The fallout with Apple lingered. Gizmodo was barred from Apple-hosted events and product launches until August 2014. That month, it was invited back to the company's September 2014 event titled "Wish we could say more."

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• 5. Pranks and Lawsuits

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  At CES in 2008, Richard Blakeley, a videographer for Gawker Media, disrupted several presentations. He carried TV-B-Gone remote controls and secretly switched off televisions around the show. The stunt got him barred from CES 2008 and from every later CES event.

  A far more serious dispute came in March 2025. Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sued G/O Media for defamation. His complaint targeted articles in Kotaku and Gizmodo that noted his interest in acquiring TikTok. Those articles repeated claims of widespread workplace misconduct during his time at Activision. Kotick argued they never mentioned that state regulators had investigated the claims and dismissed them. He said he and his representatives asked repeatedly for corrections.

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• 6. Passing Hands

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  Gawker Media's Chapter 11 bankruptcy and liquidation set off the first big change of ownership. In August 2016, Univision bought Gizmodo as one of six websites in its acquisition of the network.

  In 2019, Univision sold Gizmodo and a group of sister sites to the private equity firm Great Hill Partners. Great Hill combined the former Gawker publications under the name G/O Media, which ran Gizmodo from April 2019.

  The editor's chair changed often. In 2021, David M. Ewalt became editor-in-chief, and Andrew Couts was promoted to executive editor. Ewalt left in 2023 for The Messenger. In January 2024, Rory Carroll moved up from editor-in-chief of Jalopnik to group editor of both Jalopnik and Gizmodo. In March 2024, Rose Pastore went from deputy editor to executive editor.

  Employees frequently criticized the leadership installed after the Univision sale. Their complaints named closer relationships with advertisers, a lack of diversity, and the suppression of reporting about the company itself. G/O Media also had several disputes with its employee union, GMG Union.

  On the 29th of June 2023, the company launched what it called a "modest test" of text written by artificial intelligence on its websites, including io9. Union members pushed back. They cited the technology's record of false statements and of plagiarism from its training data. Basic errors in the resulting articles also drew attention.

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• 7. The Swiss Buyer

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  In June 2024, the Swiss digital media company Keleops Media bought Gizmodo, in what it called its "first U.S. acquisition." Keleops already owned several French-language technology titles, including the older brands 01net and Presse-citron.

  Adweek's Mark Stenberg reported that the financial terms were not disclosed. He wrote that the whole Gizmodo staff would receive offer letters to stay and that Keleops planned to grow the team soon. According to Stenberg, Keleops CEO Jean-Guillaume Kleis said there were no immediate plans to change Gizmodo commercially or editorially. The company would instead work with editor-in-chief Rory Carroll on a forward-looking editorial plan and look for areas to invest in.

  Le Figaro's Claudia Cohen wrote that it is rare for a European media group to take over an American player, especially one specialized in technology. Kleis told the paper that Keleops had "paid the price to enter the American market through a good door."

  The following June, Keleops bought Kotaku from G/O Media, reuniting the two publications. In September 2025, Gizmodo launched a redesigned website.

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