emily: nick denton just released a letter to peter thiel saying "this vindictive decade-long campaignt of proportion to the hurt you claim. your plaintiff lawyer has sued not just the company, but individual journalists." thiel told the new york times "i refuse to mean a journalism means massive privacy violations." think much more highly of journalists than that and i do not believe they are in danger fighting back against gawker -- against gawker." >> i think the larger issue here is, should billionaires be able to dictate what is said about them. do we want to live in a world where the subjects of coverage get approval over every single thing a journalist writes? if they don't like anything you write, are they going to fund a secret lawsuit, are they going to use every tool at their disposal to stop you? it is not about whether peter thiel is gay or not. it is about the successes and failures of his capital hedge fund, it is about his decisions as a facebook board member very early on in his life when it was a private company. all of these things were things i covered, all of these

"outed" peter thiel as gay.ght up with thomas on the latest development so, knowing what you know now, do you have any regrets about writing the story? >> i have no regrets. emily: why not? >> first of all i do not believe , i outed peter thiel. i think he did that himself to a wide variety of silicon valley. they took it upon themselves to say, this is ok for us to know, but the masses should not know such a detail about one of our own. emily: just because he told people who know him, does that mean it should be public? >> if it is an open secret, why can't you discuss it? gawker was founded to discuss open secrets. it was very much in our mission. -- emily:an, i feel as a gay man yourself. >> as a gay man myself, -- not viewed as a schoolyard taunt, but a human fact about some of that is interesting. interesting because not everyone is gay. we are a minority within the population, but it should be ok to discuss. emily: what are your thoughts? >> and it is ok not to be. >> it is ok not to become i support your

the irony being that peter thiel is a delegate for donald trump.called gawker the silicon valley equivalent of al qaeda. what does it mean for facebook? facebook has to tread carefully. they got into trouble when mark andreessen made comments. ceo, youany and as a have to be careful who you surround yourself with. every action of those individuals has an equal and opposite reaction on your company, your stock -- emily: shouldn't the board represent a diverse viewpoint? the corporate level. because facebook is such a part of people's lives, it is essentially the media and steve for most people. it needs to tread that path very carefully. i have always believed facebook should have the equivalent of an ombudsman in the company so that they can portray if they are doing things right. the journalist who wrote this story has been on twitter defending the original story saying it was common knowledge gay andter teal was nobody felt they could talk about it. he tweeted journalism admire surrey -- four outing a person, consider whether it makes defamatory

peter thiel strikes back. how he's been secretly funding hulk hogan and multiple cases against a stalker. microsoft and out of the smartphone wars. microsoft is giving up on handsets. they've announced 1800 job cuts and a right down close to $18 billion, all tied to its acquisition of nokia. the ceo says we are focusing our phone efforts where we have differentiations and we continue to innovate across devices and cloud services across all mobile platforms. the problem, microsoft could never make a dent in an industry dominated by apple and google android. but those giants are struggling to maintain momentum. it gives us an opportunity to revisit the smartphone wars. who is winning today, who may be the next company to follow microsoft out of the ring? joining us is the director of mobile device research. microsoft has all but given up. does it mean they have given up? guest: they gave up in the device war. in terms of software, they haven't. they mentioned a third of their customers in the fortune 500 have ma

a 13.6% premium over yesterday's close. >>> the battling deepening between co-founder of paypal peter thieliven and spent $10 million so far to fund multiple lawsuits, not just the one against hulk hogan. thiel telling me he was backing the suit and it was, quote, less about revenge and more about specific deterrence. it launched after gawker outed the paypal founder as gay. denton biting back in his open letter writing peter thiel is twisted. even were you to succeed in bankrupting gawker media, the writers you dislike and me just think what it will mean. joining us for a squawk exclusive to talk all about this and more is nick denton gawker's media president. appreciate you coming in this morning to talk about it. >> hey, andrew. >> this has been a whirlwind of a week. you had suspicions and speculation that something was amiss in this case and there was a secret backer. then it actually emerged that peter thiel was the secret backer and then it emerged that it wasn't just about the hulk hogan case but that he's been doing this secretly almost in a systematic way. the responsive' seen thu

it is not about whether peter thiel is gay or not.bout the successes and failures of his capital hedge fund, it is about his decisions as a facebook board member very early on in his life when it was a private company. all of these things were things i covered, all of these things were things that peter thiel may not have wanted us to run. does he get a veto on every single thing that a journalist does? emily: what is your thought on that? look, gawker went hard on bill cosby before anyone else did, hillary clinton and e-mails, tom cruise and scientology, not just this one story. >> does bill cosby get to determine what we write about him? that is personal business. >> i think we live in a world -- these are all fair questions, and is so my point is this. at you can see the perspective of a journalist, this is why they become journalists. this is what they believe in. i think your intent, as admirable as you described it, i do not believe that is the intent of everybody and i believe there is mean-spirited and i believe the american p

nick denton is here for his first network interview since challenging silicon valley billionaire peter thiel. >> this dispute began in 2007 when a gawker website outed the paypal cofounder as a gay man. thiel told "the new york times" gawker is a terrible bully. he called the lawsuit one of the quote, greater philanthropic things i've ever done. denton has hired an investment banker to avoid possible sale of his company. he founded gawker media in 2002. it is reportedly worth at least $250 million. nick denton is in studio 57 with us for his first interview.his lawsuit. >> maybe very well be true. just to clear it up, is it for sale? >> we have to look at everything. when you have an angry billionaire against you, i think it's quite right to look at every single contingency. >> okay. hulk hogan won the lawsuit against you or peter thiel helped him? >> this is a complicated story. it began as a story about a sex tape that hulk hogan had himself been talking about. it turned out his motives for pursuing the lawsuit weren't to do with that but were to do with racist remarks on another tape. now

you have a view on peter thiel? >> big fan of peter thiel.it. >> that's all you want to say? okay. >>> coming up, the u.s. preparing for a zika outbreak as researchers continue to work on a vaccine to stop the virus. we'll speak to a former ebola czar. >>> a showdown looming over proxy access with exxon. we'll tell you what to expect. close to a 52-week high for exxon. can a toothpaste do everything well? this clean was like - pow. it felt like i had just gone to the dentist. my teeth are glowing. they are so white. 6x cleaning*, 6x whiteningá in the certain spots that i get very sensitive... ...i really notice a difference. and at two weeks superior sensitivity relief to sensodyne i actually really like the two steps! step 1 cleans and relieves sensitivity, step 2 whitens. it's the whole package. no one's done this. crest - healthy, beautiful smiles for life. >>> mosquito season is practically upon us. experts saying we're woefully behind in the fight against zika. joining us with his thoughts former u.s. ebola coordinator ron klain. you pos

consider this, in 2007, gawker posted a story entitled, peter thiel is totally gay, people. the article did go on to call peter the smartest venture capitalist in the world but peter was outed and not happy about it. a couple of years later, peter told an online magazine, i'm not particularly flattered by being targeted. he called gawker owned valley waving the gossip site that's no longer around the sillicon valley equivalent of al qaeda. so is this a case of an outed billionaire happy to spend a few of his many bucks to get revenge? so far, peter thiel isn't saying a word. just today, a florida judge denied gawker's request for a new trial and won't reduce the verdict. michelle griego kpix 5. >>> love whole foods but hate the prices? a few hours ago whole foods opened up their first 365 store in los angeles. it's a discount supermarket aimed at millennials. 365 features a ton of grab and go options, a craft beer bar and a tea mixing station. two bay area locations are set to open in concord and san francisco. >>> new at 5:00 some bay area help for a species of frog in dange

and peter thiel strikes back.has been secretly funding hole cogan in multiple cases. -- funding hulk hogan in multiple cases. this news comes as the car industry braces for change, especially when it comes to the future of car ownership. by investing in the main players, the biggest car brands are hoping to secure a place in the future. ups week, toyota tieeamed with uber. here we take a look at the space to see who is leading the pack. carmakers are choosing sides in the ride hailing wars. this week alone, toyota committed an undisclosed amount to uber, with plans to get into the car leasing game. in january, general motors took a stake in lyft. and let's not forget apple's billion dollars bet on didi. which of the ride hailers are leading the pack? uber might get all of the headlines, but lyft is taking on a much bigger rival in many u.s. cities enter international partnerships with didi and grab. in china, didi claims to have 99% of the market. it boasts close to 300 million users in over 400 million cities, co

peter thiel had a history with gawker, and they outed peter thiel as being gay, and he has since beenabout his sexual orientation, but it stunned him and in several interviews made comment comments to gawker, and compared them to being a terrorist organization. and so there is a little bit of the understanding perhaps what may have motivated him in this particular instance to helped hulk hogan. there was a ho-hum of something amiss, and perhaps hulk hogan was not operating independently at one point, because hulk hogan's legal team removed a claim as part of the case that would have allowed gawker to use its insurance company to pay for some of the defense as well as the potential settlement, and that struck a lot of observers as an odd thing to do if you were out to get money from the company rather than inflict financial harm on the company. it has ultimately toed this, and now, lots of questions not only about freedom of speech, but big money in the legal cases, and there are other cases, and we should say where there have been benefactors if you will, and hank greenberg's case aga

you reported on peter thiele.nted your perspective on the have rask veracity of a lot reports going and. rumor rumors. >> reporter: wrurms had been swirling. and some tech people in the industry had insinuated that maybe peter thiele and now this new report says indeed it is. >> why was he so quick to get singled out here? >> value ad talked about extensively about peter thiel in the past and outed him back in 2007 and there were other stories to that effect too. so he seemed like somebody who may want revenge on gawker. >> also someone who has a big position in facebook. he was an early investor and there was a lot of questions about understanding with facebook being already in the press about its journalism. you know, his philosophy about all this. >> clearly from gawker's perspective you want to broaden this out beyond one guy with a grudge. you have to facility him with a ubiquitous service like facebook and say shouldn't somebody like this be behaving in a different manner? first of all gawker lost the case.

peter thiel hasn't confirmed which lawsuit he's behind. one is someone who claims he invented e-mail about ten years after e-mail was invented. the other person is a journalist who was collecting a dirt file on two co-founders of tinder who are in a fight with each other. anybody who actually looks at those stories would say, what's this about? >> if the verdict stands, can you stay in business, and will you change the way you operate? >> we don't believe the verdict will stand. in terms of hulk hogan verdict, we don't believe it will stand. >> in terms of the money though. >> yes. >> not in terms of the decision. >> i think in terms of the decision too. a federal judge already determined that the story was newsworthy. the appeals court has on several occasions ruled in our favor. >> will you change the way you operate, nick, because of this? >> i think society has already changed and the media has already changed. there's less demand now amongst our readers, amongst our 4 million each weekday reader. there's less demand for the kind of hi

in 2007, gawker had -- specifically a site had outed peter thiel as a gay man. l at the time swore his revenge. and now nine years later he is getting it. he had a team of lawyers who were looking for various plaintiffs, who could file suits that they could fund, they found more than one. supposedly a dumb couple other suits out there that he's prepared to bring against gawker. >> nothing peter thiel is doing is illegal, there are no laws that say you can't fund or aid someone else ales legal pursuit, right? there's a kind of a bigger question here of this is a billionaire using a tremendous amount of influence, he's ardent lynn tearian who does speak up on behalf of free speech, here he is crush an institution that sets r said something that he was sec ticked off about. >> yeah, i mean, the tricky thing about this is, thiel feels wronged but he is not suing gawker based on the statement that he feels wronged him. he's not suing them for outing him. he's suing them for hogan and based on his actions and based on hogan's actions it doesn't seem what is motivating

peter thiel is libertarian.hink he is necessarily hard-core republican, but it is hard for thinking, rational people who pride themselves on their engineering mindset to go for donald trump. talked to peter thiel a few weeks ago and tried to get him to tell me who he was supporting. take a listen to what he had to say. peter: i find political philosophy interesting and a lot of these fundamental questions. if i was involved, i think i out orust blow my brains something. you would just go crazy after a wild. did not get a straight answer there, but he is on the board of facebook. 's ceo has- facebook made public comments against trump policies. >> i would say that is a positive sign for facebook where they have the kind of lord where people disagree -- the kind of board where people disagree. you want to be surrounded by people who do not think just like you. i think zuckerberg needs to hear people who do not agree with him. he is so powerful. he needs to have people who do not kiss his feet for everything he doe

peter thiel is a facebook board member.k just found itself embroiled in a controversy over trending stories and whether they were biased or conservative. emily chang of "bloomberg west," thank you for joining us. coming up, analysis of janet yellen's speech. ♪ >> welcome to "bloomberg markets." >> from bloomberg world headquarters in new york, good afternoon. i am david or a. shery: i am shery ahn. janet yellen says the ongoing improvement in the u.s. economy could foreign to a nether interest rate increase in the coming months, but stopped short of saying exactly when. we will follow reaction in the stock and treasury markets. get ready to wait. airports are expected to spend millions to help customers avoid long security lines, but will it be enough? and what this means for your travel plans this season. shery: protein is hot and chocolate is not so her she is diversifying -- hershey is diversifying. beef turkey? we will explain. we are one hour

peter thiel off. >> there was an essay in "wired" which says, peter thiel, we love you. you're the greatest. you're so handsome, happy. don't sue us. rom a 1% to 14% chance of getting microcephaly from zika. women infected in the early stages of pregnancy face the greatest risk. the virus is already blamed for birth defects in at least 1,300 children in eight countries. >> i do love ac/dc. "back in black" someone of my favorite songs. >>> and ahead, how trainers are preparing olympic hopefuls for more than just the thrill of competition. >>> if you are heading out, watch us on our cbs digital access i can't be. it works. we'll be right back. i don'or wonder whether i theshould seek treatment.c. i am ready. because today there's harvoni. a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. harvoni is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who've had no prior treatment. it transformed treatment as the first cure that's one pill, once a day for 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. harvoni is a simple treatment regimen tha

paypal peter thiel is finance hulk hogan's lawsuit. it's wednesday, may 25th, 2016, "worldwide exchange" begins right now. ♪ ♪ i can't feel my face when i'm with you ♪ ♪ >>> good morning and welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm sara eisen. >> and i'm wilfred frost. good morning from me as well. let's bring you up to speed on the market. action a very strong rally yesterday. the nasdaq up over 2%. two others up 1% as well. the dow called higher by 76 points. s&p by 10, nasdaq by 24. just high of half of a percent for most of these indices. of course, yesterday's rallies very strong, but not on the high of the of volumes. nonetheless, quite surprising to see it particularly on the day when the dollar was strong as well. of course, stronger data pushing back on expectations that june and july are very much in play for the fed. let's have a look at oil prices. they are part of the rally as well. we saw oil up about a percent. we're up another percent and a quarter today. 49.2 for wti, close to the $50 mark. >>> let's get a check at

it is peter thiel billionaire, co-founder of pay pal. nine years ago a blog publish add story under the headline peter thiel is totally gay. outing the businessman who is not totally public about his sexual. he told the columnist that this and other arms about his friends ruin people's lives for no reason. i saw them have a damaging way of getting attention by bullying people when there was no connection with the public interest and said it was very painful and paralyzing for those targeted. gawker founder defended the original story on this. >> i don't think outing someone's sexual preferences is fair. >> i am gay. the author of --. >> it does not mean you need to tell --. all the story and the author. but to main thin this code of silence around a gay public figure in a way you never do about a straight person. >> now exploring the sale of gawker warned of the danger of rich guying gathering out revenge fantasy. >> we have had a billionaire behind the curtain, pulling strings and hiring law firms pursuing a decade long strategy and it

emily: let's talk about peter thiel.ewed him and tried to get him to tell me who he was supporting. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i find political philosophy interesting. there are a lot of fundamental questions that are interesting and important. if i was involved in a, i think i would have blown my brains out or something. i would go crazy after a wild. emily: did not get a straight answer, but he is on the board of facebook. mark zuckerberg has made public comments against trump's policies, especially about immigration. what do you make of that? signthink it is a positive for facebook that they have a board where they disagree. that is the kind of holy grail of management philosophy idea. i think zuckerberg really needs to hear disagree with him. he is so powerful at facebook. in particular, he needs to have people who do not kiss his feet for everything he does. i think he has quite a few people who are questioning him and he does not mind that. had a venture capitalist say to me yesterday that they cannot

on the one hand the journalism question, the other hand is peter thiel is a smart guy and visionary ins community. >> yeah, there's been a lot of defense of thiel in the tech community. gawker is an easy media property to hate. and value wag is an easy prop to hate. they were glib, cruel, callous they had somewhat say pretty bad editorial judgment. lot a first amendment cases, larry flynt or gawk are it's hard to defend the specifics of this particular case. a lot of people within silicon valley are saying, this isn't any different from the aclu or greenpeace funding suits that they think are going to end up having a greater social good. this case greater special good is punishing and deterring people from publishing the stuff that gawker does. the corn, of course, is who is to determine what should be punished. and iep if we all agree. i'm not saying that we do. if we agree what gawker published shouldn't have been publickished you could say i don't like the way they're talking about theranos i think that has b unfair and untoward. there for i'm going to punish the "wall street journa

speaking of facebook, peter thiel is now a elegant for donald trump.ccording to forbes, he's listed as a elegant for trump in the states 12 congressional district. the trump campaign submitted the list of names on monday. i sat down with peter thiel a few weeks ago and asked who he is supporting in this election cycle. peter: i find political philosophy interesting and there's a lot of these questions that are interesting and important. if i was involved, i think i would just blow my brains out. you would just go crazy after a while. as an outspoken libertarian, he supported the candidacy of carly fiorina. fiorinaiven money to and ted cruz in the past. disney and electronic arts moving dramatically in extended trading. we will look at the results, next. stay with us. ♪ emily: this is a special edition of "bloomberg west" live in boston where we are surrounded by his and government leaders for the annual meeting of the chamber of commerce. i want to welcome our bloomberg 1200 radio audience here and turned to earnings. disney and electronic arts reporti

. >> and peter thiel repeating he did help finance the gawker case. in addition to multiple other cases as well. the tech billionaire telling me he helped finance hulk's legal battle was less about revenge and more about specific deterrence. i saw gawker pioneer a unique incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people. of course there was that early story in 2007 that outed peter thiel as being gay and he said he watched others, including friends and others who he said -- articles that were very painful to them. and -- excuse me. very pain and feel paralyzing for people who were targeted. and he thought it was worth fighting back. now he has been criticized because he's donated money to the committee to protect journalists and has talked often about protecting free speech. but he doesn't believe his actions are contradictory. i quote, refuse to believe journalism means massive privacy violations. it is because oi respect journalists that i do not belief they are indaejed by me fighting back against gawker. >> people have to think about

i was initial thinking that peter thiel, it was a philanthropic effort. after reading rick denton's letter it's very persuasive. you would rather have organizations if they go too far sometimes, so be it. if you are going to air on one side or the other i guess you need things like gawker. but we are going to kick that around and it's been everywhere. i know you have seen it. >> it has indeed. it's been a tasty zpoir a great interview. we look forward to that and the rest of "squawk box" in ten minutes. >> scottish. scottish. not british. >> coming up futures are slightly higher ahead of janet yellen's speech at harvard today. ♪ jim cahn will weigh in next. ♪ [ male announcer ] tora bora jim khe sanh midway dak to normandy medina ridge the chosin reservoir these are places history will never forget but more important are the faces we will always remember. ♪ illuminates skin with pearl optics science. but more important are the faces we will always remember. your concert style might show your age, your skin never will. with olay you age less, so you're age

now peter thiel has been the earliest backer of the company. he is the one who said mark zuckerberg i believe in you, you , have something here, the first real money into that company. with that said, i find it very strange just from looking at , silicon valley for decades as have, for a venture capitalist to remain on the board this long in the company's life. he doesn't need to be on the board at this point. i think that has to be something -- emily: boards are supposed to be people with diversity of ? opinion he certainly has that. he has it, not only from other dan: people. owen with the neutrality, it : helps to have a trump delegate on the board, perhaps. dan i think many of these are : very fair questions. i think like most people, we care about what is in our best interest. so mark zuckerberg and the rest of the board gets to determine what good corporate governance is. wall street can determine whether they support that. owen facebook is structured that : wall street does not really get a vote. dan they knew that. :they published all t

. ♪ >>> public battle between tech billionaire peter thiel and gawker media is intensifying.ared gawker to a bully, saying the website "built its business on humiliating people for sport." last night, gawker's founder compared thiel to a comic book villain with "a diabolical decade-long scheme for revenge." josh elliott of cbsn looks at how the dispute highlights the growing wealth and power of silicon valley. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. in a way, this battle represents the collision of two of the valley's core values. freedom of information and the right to privacy. it also shows perhaps how much the center of american capitalism has been shifting west from wall street to the bay area. silicon valley innovation has changed the way how to listen to music and watch movies, how we consume news, even how we get around. that success has also minted a new class of industrialists whose fights such as the one between venture capitalist peter thiel and gawker media founder nick denton now are front-page news. >> sometimes we think the valley is basically steve job

peter thiel on the other hand is worth $2.7 billion.to say -- >> he said where is my wallet. >> he says i'm a victim here and it's a rightful crusade. it's important to note many agreed. >> you can see both sides. >> supporters on both. thank you, josh. >>> a fifth-grader wiback like it could used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena msame time tomorrow, fellas!? new dr. scholl's stimulating step insoles. they massage key pressure points with each step, for all day comfort that keeps you feeling more energized. dude's got skills. new dr. scholl's stimulating step insoles. get your own liquid gold. go on, git! there's gold in them thar shells. liquid gold. dright now at lowe's. memorial day savings like 5 bags of mulch for only $10. plus get a free bag of 5m scotts® turf builder lawn fertilizer with purchase of select scotts® turf builder products. hurry in today to make your home happy at lowe's. the

does it make a difference that peter thiel kept his participation secret in this?>> it would be best to know who is funding the litigation. it would be best to know who is paying for what. >> reporter: late today both are trading jabs. gawker just posted a letter saying thiel is on a decade-long scheme for revenge. thiel says he's not looking for revenge. >> rose: thanks, john. up next, a place that looks like it's in a galaxy far, far away. and stay awake during the day. learn about non-24 by calling 844-844-2424. or visit my24info.com. don't let dust and allergies get and life's beautiful moments. with flonase allergy relief, they wont. most allergy pills only control one inflammatory substance. flonase controls six. and six is greater than one. flonase changes everything. my bladder leakage made me feel like i couldn't be the father that i wanted to be. my kids see me as this rock of the family and a part of me felt like i became less of that hero to them but with depend, i have none of those concerns anymore. i can go all out. there's no restriction in my movem

in the latest installment of the thiel/gawker saga, nick writing an open letter to billionaire peter thieln funding hulk hogan's trial. he had this to say about thiel. >> i think it would be a great idea for him to set up a legal defense fund for people who really consider themselves to be victims of media coverage. >> well, in fact, joining us to discuss the trend of third-party backing of legal suits is travis. >> thank you. >> what you do is an aversion to thiel and gawker, right? >> they're quite similar. at bottom we look at legal claims as an sault and finance companies underwriting it as we see it. it's interesting the sound bite you led with there. essentially what peter thiel did is create a defense fund. it it's not clear that he -- >> is what you guys are doing a legal defense fund in kind of a -- sort of the well healed sense, in other words? are you able to take these pools of money and begin litigation against companies in the pursuit of getting those monetary rewards? >> i draw a couple of distinctions. one, we're drawing on behalf of them. we finance individual claims and c

the case had a silicon valley connection because it was paid for by billionaire peter thiel. he admitted as much to "the new york times" on wednesday. thiel is attacking gawker because it covered invasive stories about thiel. that led some to wonder if thiel is quashing the free press but he has given no indication he is after all kinds of news agencies, just the one that behave behaved irreputably. >>> remember the airbnb that got trashed? you're renting out your home. allstate says it will offer new special airbnb insurance covering damage. not yet available in california. the top line says internet, the bottom line says internet. the old gray lady says she isn't going to capitalize internet. "the new york times" says this internet thing. >> they are taking away the? capital "i." >> do we know what the a.p. style book? >> they went earlier than "the new york times." "new york times" is the last one to say fine, lower case "i." >>> they are hoping a big red nose on your face will be a classic. today marks the return of a comedy telethon. if you see people walking around with

peter thiel's war on gawker media is drawing sides.y cofounder's first look media is publicly throwing support behind gawker in its appeal over the judgment awarded to hulk hogan. peter thiel financially backed hogan's suit against gawker involving a sex tape that was published. in a statement from general counsel, it says "first look media is organizing an amicus effort around these concerns and we will be paying close attention as this case moves into the appeals phase. to be clear, this is about press freedom, principles on which our company was founded and about which we care deeply." coming up, step aside, beyonce. a bit of friday fun as we look at my efforts to become the next singing superstar. ♪ emily: the shanghai-based social platform musical.ly gives fans a tool to take lip-synching to the next level. i asked ceo alex zhu to explain why this app is taking the u.s. teenage audience in particular by storm. alex: we have a lot of features relating to social interaction between user a and user b. one of the features our users ta

name is terry bollea, got nearly $10 million to pay for his legal team from silicon billionaire peter thiela statement he said, "i am proud to have supported terry bollea against a bully's gross violation of privacy. gawker built its business on humiliating people for sport." thiel, founder of paypal and an early facebook investor, was targeted by gawker in a 2007 posting that outed him as gay. nick denton, gawker's founder, is unapologetic about his brand of news. >> gossip is the version of news that the authorities or the celebrities or the officials don't want people to know. it's the unauthorized version. >> reporter: thiel's support helped hogan win the $140 million award that could now put gawker out of business. it is also raising concern that money from thiel and others like him could silence free speech. >> it really isn't a question can someone else fund your litigation? of course they can. >> reporter: miriam smith is an expert in media and internet law at san francisco state university. >> does it make a difference that peter thiel kept his participation secret in this? >> it w

peter thiel, founder of paypal. en suspected, but he had no proof when thiel proved it, confirming that gawker is a bully that deserving to be challenged. almost ten years ago valley wag wrote a blog post about thiel being gay. it wasn't completely a secret, but it wasn't well known. a couple years later, he was blunt with the hatred. he says some of his friends have been bullied by gawker sites as well. so here's the thing. thiel is also bankrolling other lawsuits. we don't know how many. it's perfectly legal to fund someone's litigation, but this sends up a chill of the spines of journalists. is this a new way to attack the media? you may not like gawker, but he said if this is the new weapon, few publications will are the resources off death wish to scrutinize them. he believes it could be a chilling effect on journalist. there's a connection between financing lawsuits and financing elections. the same questioning about transparency apply to each. so i leave you with this question -- should the injure that found g

one thing peter thiel told me when he got back from china that he is scared of the chinese tech communityuse he thinks there is so much power. should we be afraid? cyriac: i'm not scared at all. i think it's awesome. the best thing we can do for silicon valley is to get some impulse from the outside from time to time. it's important we don't become totally self absorbed and believe this is the only place in the world something is happening. when you go to china, go to beijing, you can sense the entrepreneurship in the air. what i loved about it and what i was inspired by was the openness, the friendliness, and i have to say, the raw authenticity of entrepreneurship. what entrepreneurship should be is to create something great out of almost nothing. emily: do you think it will be the next silicon valley or adjacent? cyriac: i think it's a competitor. i'm european by background, so it hurts me to say that, but i have to say i don't think there is any other place in the world besides beijing, not even china, that is a true competitor in the next decade to silicon valley. india might be the o

roastrery. >>> peter thiel confirming he financed hulk hogan's trial. decided nearly a decade ago that was going to set a plan in motion to fight back against gawker. this after gawker's blog targeted thiel in an article that he describes as bullying. >> u.s. foods the second largest ipo this year. near the top end of the expected range 23 bucks. kkr and clayton and rice bought u.s. foods in 2007 for --. shay shares trade today under the ticker usfd. could it be a sign that the market is opening back up? we're seeing some big m&a this. >> the m&a dill still hasn't happen. >> you're talking about bayer monosanto. man sanity monosanity the brexit referendum is one month away. world leaders are discussing the potential impact of a uk exit and of course much must have more. >> before we head to break it was on this day in 1896 that charles dow published the first edition of the dow jones industrial average. of that dozen, only general electric remains in the dow today. >> a great little stat. >> look at that. how much we've changed. real is making new friend

given the need for contingency planning around facebook board member peter thiel's revenge campaign." >>> the biggest maker of iphones is firing tens of thousands of people and putting robots in their place. pepper was employed in 2014. now that bbc reports that robots are being tapped to perform tasks previously performed by 60,000 humans. the company manufactures products for many brands. >>> talk about running high, a pot friendly gym set to open in san francisco. cannabis industry entrepreneur jim macle fine says it will be called power plant fitness. thinks video of the 420 games. new members will be required to undergo a cannabis performance assessment so they can figure out how much marijuana they should have before working out. members will be allowed to eat edibles and vap at the gym. >>> coming up in our next half- hour, hillary clinton rallies support in the bay area. and the stakes could not be higher. the democrats now in a virtual dead heat. can bernie sanders pull off an upset in california? >> plus, the popular over-the- counter drugs that could be damaging your brain.

among them, -- ellen: peter thiel among them, saying you don't need to go to college. then, not a big surprise, the next most popular school was stanford. carol: interesting. david: in the backyard. carol: interesting, all the students go to schools, racking up all of this student debt, ultimately, you don't have to go to college. ellen: if you are very smart. that is the lesson. carol: in the global economic session, you talked about puerto rico with a lot of problems. a lot of debt. there is more to be done. they really have to fix their economy. ellen: they do. the problem is they sort of don't have an economy. they relied heavily for a while on the pharma industry. a lot of pharma companies wanted to do business there because there were tax advantages. those tax advantages no longer exist. and so the pharma companies over time have left. they also have attracted finance people because they have tax advantages for finance people. but that has created resentment because people who live there don't have the same advantages. and so the question is, what is puerto rico

have a lot of entrepreneurs who are taking the advice of some of the people on silicon valley, peter thielmong them, saying you don't need to go to college. not a big surprise, the next most popular school was stanford. in the backyard. >> interesting, all the students go to schools, racking up all of the student debt, ultimately, you don't have to go to college. >> if you are very smart. that is a lesson. carol: in the global economic session, you talked about puerto rico with a lot of problems. there is more than easter be done. they had to fix their economy. >> they do. the problem is they don't have an economy. they relied heavily for a while on the pharma industry. a lot of pharma companies wanted to do business there because there were tax advantages. longerax advantages no exist. the pharma companies over time have left. they have also attracted finance people because they have tax advantages for finance people. that has created resentment because people live there don't have the same advantages. it is what is puerto rico going to be able to live on? >> pharma companies have left, a