The Onion, the satirical news company that has repeatedly impersonated conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has won a bankruptcy auction for control of his media empire — most notably because it serves as Jones’ primary online platform. Infowars is a far-right, conspiracy-oriented website.
Mr. Jones announced the sale on Thursday morning.
“I was just informed 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and associates met with the U.S. trustee this morning regarding our bankruptcy and will be closing our company without a court order this morning,” Jones said. Ta.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to stay here until they come and turn off the lights,” he added.
The Onion plans to shut down Jones’ InfoWars and rebuild the website, which features prominent Internet humor writers and content creators, according to people familiar with the sale.
Mr. Jones, 50, is one of the most high-profile and financially successful alternative media personalities, primarily through the Infowars brand, which focuses on false and often bizarre claims about grand conspiracies and governments. He built a small empire that turned his radio show into an Internet video business. Cheating.
Details of Wednesday’s auction, including how much it sold to Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems and related assets, were not immediately available. The proceeds from the sale were intended to satisfy creditors of Mr. Jones’ estate, mostly made up of the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which Mr. Jones had filed against him in a defamation judgment. Damages must be paid.
The families of Sandy Hook were left mentally ill after Jones slandered them on the show and repeatedly suggested that the shooting, in which the gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults, was a hoax. He filed lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas for inflicting pain and suffering.
A jury found Jones liable for defamation and awarded the family nearly $1.5 billion in damages in the lawsuit, but Jones claims he does not have the luxury of such a large amount of money. However, nothing has been collected. He filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022, and in June a judge allowed him to liquidate his personal assets to help pay off the judgment.
The sale had the support of several families of the Sandy Hook shootings in Connecticut who were participating in the lawsuit.
“Our clients know that true accountability means an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain, and fear at scale,” Chris Mattei, the family’s attorney in Connecticut, said in a statement. I knew that.” “By selling Jones’ assets at Infowars, the family and the team at The Onion have performed a public service and will significantly impede Jones’ ability to do further harm.”
Anti-violence group Everytown for Gun Safety announced it will become the exclusive advertiser of The Onion’s new venture as part of a multi-year deal.
“We want to reach a new audience ready to hold the firearms industry accountable for contributing to our country’s gun violence epidemic,” the group’s president, John Feinblatt, said in a statement.
Since April, The Onion has been led by CEO Ben Collins, who previously covered disinformation and conspiracy theories for NBC News, which often meant covering Jones. Ta. Mr. Collins introduced several changes aimed at monetizing the business, including subscriptions, live event planning, and the return of physical copies of the paper and its TV parody, The Onion News Network.
In June, Collins responded to a call from an online follower about The Onion’s acquisition of InfoWars with a meme that read, “We’re looking into it.”
Companies interested in buying Jones’ media company submitted final offers to federal court-appointed trustee Christopher Murray, who was tasked with selecting the best bid, but not necessarily. It wasn’t the highest price.
Potential buyers’ identities were kept secret because they had to agree to non-disclosure agreements to receive bidding materials.
The auction house that carried out the sale said, “The bankruptcy order does not place any restrictions on the use of the acquired assets,” and that the winning bidder has the right to choose whether to continue Infowars’ business.
On his show this week, as he implores listeners to buy subscriptions and the nutritional supplements he sells, Jones paints a picture of potential buyers, calling out a group of anonymous bidders who typically tune into his show. He described himself as a friendly benefactor who would run the business as expected. There were also “bad guys” who shut down InfoWars, he said.
Mr Jones said he intended to continue broadcasting on alternative channels if ordered to close by the new buyer, but said he would be hampered by the loss of essentials such as the brand, website and equipment, among other things. .
“Leftists celebrating the end of Alex Jones and Infowars are idiots,” he said. “Just look.”
Up for auction are InfoWars production rights and materials, the InfoWars Store, domain names, production equipment, and other assets, including a Teradyne armored truck and a Winnebago camper, which can be purchased in whole or in part. THREE SIXTY ASSET ADVISORS LIMITED. Jones broadcasts from the Austin, Texas area.
The auction is part of Murray’s “orderly winddown process” under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which is overseeing the latest phase of the case against Jones stemming from the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn. be.
As befits a satirical website, Onion’s press release announcing the sale was written in the voice of the CEO of Global Tetrahedron, a fictitious evil company founded by Onion staff. Former technology executive Jeff Lawson named the actual company that acquired Onion from G/O Media in April as Global Tetrahedron.
“Through it all, InfoWars has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to generating anger and radicalizing society’s most vulnerable people. These values resonate deeply with all of us at Global Tetrahedron.” says the release.
Jones founded Infowars, which operates under Free Speech Systems, in 1999. The company itself had about $6 million in cash and about $1.2 million in inventory, according to a June court filing.
Families in Texas and Connecticut are fighting the liquidation process in court over concerns about how the funds will be distributed. Still, they argue that Mr. Jones’ loss of company carries some responsibility for his past statements.
At his 2022 trial in Texas, Jones largely accused the “corporate media” of distorting and misrepresenting his words, but he did not say how.
Jones also testified that he believed Sandy Hook was “100% authentic,” but used the ongoing lawsuit to cheer up listeners facing InfoWars’ losses.
