The Onion wins Alex Jones' Infowars in bankruptcy auction
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • one month ago • 2 commentsBy: Brandy Zadrozny and Erik Ortiz
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Onion, the satirical news company that repeatedly spoofed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has won the bankruptcy auction for control over his media empire — most notably Infowars, the far-right, conspiracy-minded website that served as Jones' primary online platform.
Jones announced the sale on X on Thursday morning.
"I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee over our bankruptcy this morning and they said they are shutting us down even without a court order this morning," Jones said.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to be here until they come and turn the lights off," he added.
The Onion plans to shutter Jones' Infowars and rebuild the website featuring well-known internet humor writers and content creators, according to a person with knowledge of the sale. About an hour and a half after the announcement of the sale, Infowars' website was shut down.
Attorneys for First United American Companies, which was named as a backup bidder in the auction, filed a request Thursday seeking an immediate court-ordered meeting about The Onion's win, claiming there were changing "procedures, lack of transparency, and inaccurate disclosures to interested bidders."
The group said there was urgency because "the value of the assets is in the process of being destroyed at this very minute."
Jones, 50, one of the most-high profile and financially successful alternative media personalities, built a small empire off a radio show-turned-internet video operation centered around the Infowars brand that focused on false and often bizarre claims about grand conspiracies and government wrongdoing.
Details of Wednesday's auction, including how much was offered for Free Speech Systems, the parent company of Infowars, and related assets, were not immediately known. Funds generated from the sale are meant to satisfy Jones' estate creditors, largely families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to whom he must pay damages in defamation verdicts.
Sandy Hook families filed lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas claiming Jones defamed them on his show and inflicted emotional distress by repeatedly suggesting the shooting, in which a gunman killed 20 first grade children and six adults, was a hoax.
Juries found Jones liable for defamation and awarded the families nearly $1.5 billion in total in their lawsuits, but they have been unable to collect anything from Jones, who claimed he can't afford that massive a sum. He filed for bankruptcy in late 2022, and a judge in June allowed him to liquidate his personal assets to help pay off the verdicts.
The sale had the backing of several of the Connecticut families of the Sandy Hook shooting who were part of the lawsuit.
"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," Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut families, said in a statement. "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."
The anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety said it will be the exclusive advertiser in The Onion's new venture as part of a multiyear agreement.
John Feinblatt, the group's president, said in a statement that he hopes to "reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation's gun violence epidemic."
Since April, The Onion has been led by chief executive Ben Collins, who previously covered disinformation and conspiracy theories for NBC News, a beat that often meant covering Jones. Collins has introduced several changes meant to monetize the business, including subscriptions, organized live events, and bringing back physical copies of the paper and its television parody, the Onion News Network.
In June, Collins answered calls from followers online that The Onion purchase Infowars with a meme "looking into it."
Those interested in acquiring Jones' media company had submitted their final offers to federal court-appointed trustee Christopher Murray, who was tasked with picking a best bid, but not necessarily the highest.
The identities of potential buyers were secret as they had to agree to nondisclosure agreements in order to receive bid materials.
The auction firms running the sale said that there are "no restrictions on the use of any acquired property in the bankruptcy order," and that the winner has the choice of whether to continue Infowars' operations.
On his show this week, amid pleas for listeners to buy subscriptions and the nutritional supplements he sells, Jones painted a picture of his potential buyers, describing one group of anonymous bidders as friendly backers who would allow his show to operate as normal. Others, he said, were "bad guys" who would shut Infowars down.
While he said he would continue to broadcast via an alternative channel if ordered to shutter by a new buyer, Jones noted he would be hampered by the loss of his brand, website and equipment, among other necessities.
"All you leftists celebrating the end of Alex Jones and Infowars, you're fools," he said. "Just watch."
Up for grabs at the auction were Infowars production rights and materials, the Infowars store, domain names, production equipment and other assets — including a Terradyne armored truck and a Winnebago motor home — that can be purchased in their entirety or in parts, according to the firm, ThreeSixty Asset Advisors. Jones broadcasts from the Austin, Texas, area.
The auction is part of Murray's "orderly wind-down process" under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which has overseen the latest phase of the case against Jones, stemming from the Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
In fitting form for the satirical website, The Onion's news release announcing the sale was written in the voice of a CEO of Global Tetrahedron, a fictional evil company created by Onion staff. Former tech executive Jeff Lawson took on the name Global Tetrahedron for his real company that acquired The Onion from G/O Media in April.
"Through it all, InfoWars has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society—values that resonate deeply with all of us at Global Tetrahedron," the release said.
Jones founded Infowars, which operates under Free Speech Systems, in 1999. The company itself held about $6 million in cash and $1.2 million in inventory, according to previous court filings from June.
The families in Texas and Connecticut have sparred in court over the liquidation process, with concerns over how the money will be distributed. Still, they have said, Jones' loss of his company brings some accountability for his past words.
At his trial in Texas in 2022, Jones generally blamed "corporate media" for twisting his words and misportraying him, but didn't specify how.
While Jones also testified that he believes Sandy Hook was "100% real," he has used the ongoing litigation to galvanize his listeners as he faces the loss of Infowars.
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... huh, having a lying maga mouth in a big head in an open carry state, what could go wrong?
That P.O.S. Just called me a fool!
Where's a lawyer when ya need one!