David Bridges
On Thursday, a judge mandated an evidentiary hearing regarding The Onion’s successful bid to acquire Infowars. Following this ruling, Alex Jones’ platform resumed its operations, claiming that the sale had been impeded. However, The Onion CEO Ben Collins provided clarity in an update shared on Bluesky and X over the weekend. He affirmed, “We left the hearing with clear next steps to complete the sale.” Collins elaborated that a court date is scheduled for the upcoming Monday, when he anticipates finalizing the acquisition process. In the interim, Infowars has requested authorization to maintain its publishing activities. “The long and short of it: We won the auction and — you’re not going to believe this — the previous InfoWars folks aren’t taking it well,” Collins stated, underlining the tension surrounding the sale.
Collins further detailed that the auction overseer confirmed The Onion along with the families affected by the Connecticut Sandy Hook tragedy, emerged victorious in their bidding for Infowars. He noted, “We haven’t heard anything that changed that — except, of course, from the guys currently running InfoWars, doing InfoWars stuff.” Unsurprisingly, Alex Jones has branded the auction as “rigged,” and during a livestream on X, he claimed that legal representatives from Elon Musk’s platform had participated in the hearing, as reported by Mother Jones.
In the fiercely contested auction for Infowars, The Onion faced only one other competitor: First United American Companies, a firm linked to a website that markets Jones’ supplements. This competing entity reportedly placed a bid of $3.5 million. While the exact figure of Global Tetrahedron’s (The Onion’s parent company) bid remains undisclosed, it is noteworthy that it is supported by the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims. According to Bloomberg, Christopher Murray, the trustee managing Jones’ estate liquidation, stated that these families consented to forgo their potential recovery to benefit all other unsecured creditors owed by Jones.
Collins shared insights about the status conference that took place with the presiding judge on Thursday, shortly after the announcement of their winning bid. He explained, “The judge had some questions about process and some assets. We’re glad he’s doing that, since our bid with the families is clearly the best and transparency is even better.” He further commented, “We expected all of this, obviously. Buying this site was always going to be fun later on, but annoying right away. The fun part is still to come,” indicating a mix of challenges and excitement ahead.
Ben Collins has ambitious plans for Infowars, envisioning a relaunch that positions it as “the dumbest website on the internet.” It has been reported that the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety will be the exclusive advertiser upon launch, suggesting a shift in the website’s direction and focus.
Daniel Mercer
Ethan Carter
