Interview with Ken Layne, new owner of Wonkette

As reported earlier today, Gawker Media has parted ways with three of its blogs: Gridskipper, Idolator, and Wonkette.

Gawker head honcho Nick Denton explained to Silicon Alley Insider that the decision to sell the sites  was based on the economy, lack of advertising, and his desire to get lean before the blogosphere implodes. "There's a cold wind coming," Denton told Silicon Alley. "We need to focus on our core titles."

Gridskipper was sold to Curbed and Idolator was ushered to Buzznet, but Wonkette will remain in the family (such as it is). Denton says it was "spun off" to its managing editor, Ken Layne (pictured here and after the jump). Layne and Denton go back to the days of Sploid, an off-the-wall Gawker blog that focused on UFOs and weird news — subject matter that Layne handled beautifully in the late '90s with Tabloid.net (now defunct).

Apparently Layne and Blogads chief Henry Copeland have bought Wonkette from Denton. Because Layne and I are friends, I was able to catch the new mogul on Google Chat early this afternoon for this impromptu interview.

Web Scout: First of all, congrats!

Ken: Thank you. It is a weird ending to the story — or weird new chapter, I guess.

Web Scout: By now everyone has read Nick's e-mail to the Gawker folk, but my first question is: Who will actually own Wonkette, you or Blogads owner Henry Copeland?

Ken:  Well, a new company is forming as I type this, and I am running the editorial side of it. Henry's BlogAds is going to be doing for us what they do for Perez Hilton: exclusively handle the site's sales and marketing, and handle the hosting and tech.