CNN
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Satirical news site The Onion won the auction to acquire Infowars from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The Onion’s bid was supported by the families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and one first responder. It will also have an exclusive advertising deal with the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. CNN was the first to report that the humor website was participating in the bid.

The purchase acquires the company’s intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory and certain social media accounts, as well as the production equipment used to put Jones on the air. The amount of the offer was not disclosed.

“The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing the storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they demand their cold, hard cash,” said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. “Or Bitcoin. We also accept Bitcoin.”

In order for the bid to succeed, the families agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the total value of The Onion’s bid, which would enable its success, the families said in a statement.

“After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ empty offers for supposedly more money if they would just let him stay on the air, because doing so would have endangered other families,” said Chris Mattei. lawyer for the families and partner at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder.

In a video posted to X, Alex Jones denounced the sale, claiming it was unconstitutional and encouraging fans to follow him on new social media.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to stay here until they come in and turn off the lights. I’m going to say, ‘Where is your court order?’” he said.

Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, said in part: “The world needs to understand that having a platform does not mean you are above responsibility – the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long waited and fought for.”

Everything at Infowars, from the microphones to the email lists, was auctioned off to help pay off the nearly $1.5 billion Jones owed the Sandy Hook families after he was found guilty of defamation for calling the 2012 massacre a hoax had mentioned.

Jones’ allies had also submitted bids, with a source telling CNN that one of those bids was in the seven figures. Jones had said on his show that “good guys” had tried to bid on Infowars to keep him in place, but that even if that doesn’t work out, he will continue broadcasting on new platforms and new social media accounts.

The Onion plans to transition the website to the new content by January 2025, according to a joint release with Everytown for Gun Safety.

This is a developing story and will be updated.