The bankruptcy auction for control of Alex Jones' media empire has been won by The Onion, the satirical news organization that frequently made fun of conspiracy theorist Jones. Of particular note is Infowars, the far-right, conspiracy-minded website that was Jones' main online platform.
On Thursday morning, Jones made the sale public on X.
"My lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee this morning regarding our bankruptcy, and they stated they are shutting us down even without a court order," Jones remarked 15 minutes ago.
He said, "I'm going to stay here until they come and turn the lights off, but I don't know what's going to happen."
He said, "I'm going to stay here until they come and turn the lights off, but I don't know what's going to happen."
According to someone with knowledge of the sale, The Onion intends to close Jones’ Infowars and relaunch the website with popular online humor authors and content producers. The Infowars website was taken down approximately one and a half hours after the transaction was announced.
Lawyers for First United American Companies, the auction's backup bidder, filed a request Thursday for an urgent court-ordered meeting regarding The Onion's victory, alleging that there were "inaccurate disclosures to interested bidders, a lack of transparency, and changing procedures."
According to the group, there was an urgent need since "the value of the assets is in the process of being destroyed at this very minute."
Jones, 50, is one of the most well-known and lucrative figures in alternative media. He started a radio show that later evolved into an online video business under the Infowars brand, which promoted ludicrous and frequently ludicrous allegations of massive conspiracies and wrongdoing by the government.
It was not immediately clear how much was given for Infowars' parent business, Free Speech Systems, and other assets at Wednesday's auction. The proceeds from the sale will be used to pay off Jones' estate creditors, who are mostly the relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims from 2012, to whom he is obligated to reimburse damages in defamation cases.
Sandy Hook relatives sued Jones in Connecticut and Texas, alleging that Jones caused them severe distress and defamed them on his show by implying repeatedly that the massacre, which claimed the lives of six adults and 20 first-graders, was a fake.
Although juries found Jones guilty for defamation and granted the families a total verdict of almost $1.5 billion in their claims, Jones has refused to pay them anything, claiming he cannot afford such a large figure. A judge in June permitted him to sell his personal assets to help pay off the verdicts after he filed for bankruptcy in late 2022.
Several of the Sandy Hook massacre families from Connecticut who were involved in the litigation supported the sale.
Chris Mattei, the Connecticut families' lawyer, said in a statement, "Our clients understood that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain, and fear at scale." "The families and the team at The Onion have done a public service by removing Jones' assets from Infowars, and this will significantly limit Jones' capacity to cause further harm."
As part of a multiyear deal, the anti-violence group Everytown for Gun Safety announced that it will be the only advertiser in The Onion's new business.
"I hope to reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation's gun violence epidemic," said the group's president, John Feinblatt, in a statement.
Ben Collins, the company's CEO since April, previously covered conspiracy theories and misinformation for NBC News, a beat that sometimes included covering Jones. In an attempt to make money, Collins has implemented a number of innovations, such as subscription services, planned live events, and the return of hard copies of the newspaper and its television counterpart, the Onion News Network.
Collins responded to online followers' requests in June that The Onion buy Infowars with a parody, saying that they were "looking into it."
Christopher Murray, a trustee appointed by the federal court, received the final bids from those interested in purchasing Jones' media company. Murray was responsible for selecting the best bid, though not necessarily the highest.
Potential buyers had to sign nondisclosure agreements before they could get bid documents, so their identities were kept confidential.
There are "no restrictions on the use of any acquired property in the bankruptcy order," according to the auction businesses conducting the sale, and the buyer is free to decide whether to carry on with Infowars' business.
Jones presented a picture of his possible customers on his show this week when he urged listeners to purchase subscriptions and the nutritious supplements he offers. He described one group of anonymous bidders as kind supporters who would enable his program to continue as usual. He claimed that others were "bad guys" who would bring Infowars to an end.
Jones stated that if a new buyer forced him to shut down, he would still broadcast on a different channel but would be hindered by losing his website, equipment, and brand, among other essentials.
He remarked, "All you leftists who are celebrating the demise of Infowars and Alex Jones are idiots." "Just observe."
According to the company, ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, the auction included Infowars production rights and materials, the Infowars store, domain names, production equipment, and other assets, such as a Terradyne armored truck and a Winnebago motor home, that could be bought in full or in parts. From the Austin, Texas, area, Jones broadcasts.
Under the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which has presided over the most recent stage of the action against Jones in connection with the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the auction is a component of Murray's "orderly wind-down process."
As befitted the satirical website, The Onion's news release announcing the sale was narrated by a CEO of Global Tetrahedron, a fictitious villainous corporation that Onion employees had developed. In April, Jeff Lawson, a former computer CEO, bought The Onion from G/O Media and rebranded it as Global Tetrahedron.
"InfoWars has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to inciting rage and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society—values that are deeply meaningful to all of us at Global Tetrahedron," the statement read.
In 1999, Jones established Infowars, a division of Free Speech Systems. According to earlier June court documents, the corporation itself had approximately $1.2 million in inventory and $6 million in cash.
Concerned about the distribution of the funds, the families in Connecticut and Texas have argued in court over the liquidation procedure. However, they have stated that Jones's loss of his business entails some responsibility for his previous remarks.
Jones typically accused the "corporate media" of misrepresenting him and distorting his statements during his trial in Texas in 2022, but they didn't specify how.
