The Onion Buys Infowars in Bankruptcy Auction

Infowars, the far-right conspiracy theory outlet driven into bankruptcy over lies founder Alex Jones spread about the Sandy Hook massacre, has a new owners: Satirical news site The Onion.

The Onion, whose parent company is Global Tetraheron, declined to disclose how much it paid for Infowars’ asserts. The Onion was acquired in April by Jeff Lawson, co-founder and former CEO of Twilio, a customer-service software company.

The Connecticut families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting who had sued Infowars and Jones backed the bid by The Onion to purchase Infowars’ intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the production equipment used to put Jones on the air. The Connecticut families agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion’s bid, enabling its success.

In 2022, the families that brought the case against Jones in Connecticut secured a $1.4 billion verdict in their defamation lawsuit against Jones. A Texas bankruptcy court ruled on the liquidation of Jones’ assets in June of this year, handing over control to an independent trustee tasked with selling them off to generate the greatest possible value for the families.

“From Day One, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business,” said Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut plaintiffs and partner at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder. “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale. After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm’s way. They are heroes, and it has been an honor and privilege to be their advocate throughout this fight. By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm.”

“We were told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights. The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability – the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.

The sale of Infowars assets was overseen by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee and was expected to receive bids from Jones’ associates and other prominent right-wing content creators. Had any of these parties acquired even a portion of Jones’ assets, it is speculated that Jones could have remained on-air, continuing to broadcast his deeply harmful conspiracy theories and antagonizing the Sandy Hook victims and their families.