The Onion’s Purchase Of InfoWars Rejected By Bankruptcy Judge
Posted on 12/11/2024
CHICAGO — A Texas bankruptcy judge has rejected the sale of conspiracy theory platform InfoWars to Chicago-based satire site The Onion.
The decision comes after a dispute, played out over a two-day hearing, between The Onion and another bidder for InfoWars founder Alex Jones’ company.
Last month, The Onion announced its acquisition of Jones’ InfoWars with a winning bid of $1.75 million in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation auction. The Onion and parent company Global Tetrahedron worked in cooperation with Jones’ current creditors: several Sandy Hook families who recently won about $1.4 billion in damages in a defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2022.
However, the other bidder for Infowars — a Jones-affiliated company called First United American Companies — contested the sale, arguing that the bidding process was fraudulent and that the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Christopher Murray, made a bad-faith decision to favor The Onion’s bid for political purposes over First United’s much-higher bid of $3.5 million.
Over the course of this week’s hearing, which stretched from Monday into Tuesday night, Murray said he made the best decision possible for relieving the debt from Jones and honoring creditors’ wishes. (Part of Global Tetrahedron’s deal involved getting permission from the Sandy Hook families to relieve a significant part of Jones’ debt toward them, thus increasing the value of their bid from $1.75 million to $7 million.) Auctioneer Jeff Tanenbaum also defended the bid’s value and the decision to select it.
Jones’ attorney, Ben Broocks, argued that the judgments in the Sandy Hook lawsuit could be appealed, which would significantly reduce the value of The Onion’s bid if that were to happen.
The auction process carried significant flaws, and the outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for the Sandy Hook families, Judge Christopher M. Lopez ruled Tuesday.
“You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them,” CBS reports Lopez as saying.
Lopez instructed Murray to go back to the table and determine next steps. The judge also said no other auction will take place.
The news comes as a blow to those hoping The Onion would take over ownership of Jones’ website and its assets. The Onion previously said it planned to turn InfoWars into a parody site satirizing far-right figures like Jones.
In a statement on Bluesky, The Onion CEO Ben Collins said the company was “deeply disappointed” by the judge’s ruling and pledged to “seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured.”
“We will also continue to seek a path towards purchasing InfoWars in the coming weeks,” Collins said in the statement. “It is part of our larger mission to make a better, funnier internet, regardless of the outcome of this case.”
The decision comes after a dispute, played out over a two-day hearing, between The Onion and another bidder for InfoWars founder Alex Jones’ company.
Last month, The Onion announced its acquisition of Jones’ InfoWars with a winning bid of $1.75 million in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation auction. The Onion and parent company Global Tetrahedron worked in cooperation with Jones’ current creditors: several Sandy Hook families who recently won about $1.4 billion in damages in a defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2022.
However, the other bidder for Infowars — a Jones-affiliated company called First United American Companies — contested the sale, arguing that the bidding process was fraudulent and that the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Christopher Murray, made a bad-faith decision to favor The Onion’s bid for political purposes over First United’s much-higher bid of $3.5 million.
Over the course of this week’s hearing, which stretched from Monday into Tuesday night, Murray said he made the best decision possible for relieving the debt from Jones and honoring creditors’ wishes. (Part of Global Tetrahedron’s deal involved getting permission from the Sandy Hook families to relieve a significant part of Jones’ debt toward them, thus increasing the value of their bid from $1.75 million to $7 million.) Auctioneer Jeff Tanenbaum also defended the bid’s value and the decision to select it.
Jones’ attorney, Ben Broocks, argued that the judgments in the Sandy Hook lawsuit could be appealed, which would significantly reduce the value of The Onion’s bid if that were to happen.
The auction process carried significant flaws, and the outcome “left a lot of money on the table” for the Sandy Hook families, Judge Christopher M. Lopez ruled Tuesday.
“You got to scratch and claw and get everything you can for them,” CBS reports Lopez as saying.
Lopez instructed Murray to go back to the table and determine next steps. The judge also said no other auction will take place.
The news comes as a blow to those hoping The Onion would take over ownership of Jones’ website and its assets. The Onion previously said it planned to turn InfoWars into a parody site satirizing far-right figures like Jones.
In a statement on Bluesky, The Onion CEO Ben Collins said the company was “deeply disappointed” by the judge’s ruling and pledged to “seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured.”
“We will also continue to seek a path towards purchasing InfoWars in the coming weeks,” Collins said in the statement. “It is part of our larger mission to make a better, funnier internet, regardless of the outcome of this case.”
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