The Onion Buys Alex Jones’s Infowars in Bankruptcy Auction

Brandy Zadrozny and Erik Ortiz, NBC News:

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. [...]

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.

If you’d told me, say, eight years ago, that in 2024 one of two things would happen: Infowars would buy The Onion or The Onion would buy Infowars, I don’t know which I’d have considered more likely. But I know which outcome I’d have rooted for. This is just delightful. I think what makes it so amazing is “The Onion Buys Infowars” feels like a perfect Onion headline.

★ Thursday, 14 November 2024