John Cook becomes the latest top Gawker figure to exit Gizmodo Media Group

Gizmodo Media Group's special projects executive editor, John Cook, is set to leave the company.

Cook will become the latest former top Gawker Media figure to exit in the year following Univision's acquisition of Gawker properties.

In a company-wide memo obtained by Business Insider, Cook said he would be leaving GMG on October 13.

Cook said he was envious of those who took time off following Gawker's loss to Hulk Hogan and subsequent bankruptcy.

"I've watched with envy in recent months as various friends - including the occasional former colleague - have taken some time away from the news grind to clear their heads and get their bearings," Cook wrote. "After the last year and a half - even with the distance we've been able to put between ourselves the the Troubles - I could still use some head-clearing."

The former executive editor of Gawker Media, Cook has overseen the special projects desk at GMG, which has focused on long-term investigative journalism.

Cook was one of the last major leadership figures involved in the Hogan trial who remained at GMG. Other top staffers like Heather Dietrick - the president of Gawker Media and then of GMG - left the company in the months after the sale.