The Onion buys Alex Jones's Infowars at bankruptcy auction
Infowars, a controversial conspiracy theory website, has been sold to satirical news outlet The Onion at a bankruptcy auction.
Alex Jones, host and founder of Infowars, filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5bn (£1.18bn) in damages to families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims who died.
The 50-year-old previously accused relatives of the 20 children and six school employees who died in the 2012 massacre of being actors.
Supported by the families of Sandy Hook victims, The Onion made a successful bid for Infowars' parent company Free Speech Systems and its related assets in a private auction on Wednesday.
The sale price was not immediately disclosed, and just hours after it was announced on Thursday, the Infowars website appeared to be shut down.
Sky's US partner network NBC News reported The Onion planned to shutter the website and relaunch it with internet comedians and content creators.
Anti-violence organisation Everytown for Gun Safety also said it will be the exclusive advertiser for The Onion's version of the website as part of a multiyear agreement.
While The Onion itself issued a joke statement from its fictional boss, the outlet's real chief executive Ben Collins told social media followers ahead of the announcement it was "the funniest news you've ever heard in your life".
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The families of Sandy Hook victims also welcomed The Onion taking over the conspiracy theory website.
Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said via his lawyer that "the dissolution of Alex Jones' assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for".
NBC News also reported that the families' attorney Chris Mattei said: "By divesting Jones of Infowars' assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones' ability to do more harm."
Read more:Who is InfoWars host Alex Jones?How a famous surgeon died in an Israeli prison
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Mr Jones previously said he would continue to broadcast on a different channel if Infowars was shut down and has vowed to challenge the sale and the auction process in court.
During what he called the "last broadcast... from Infowars studios" on Thursday morning, he said "Democrats" were in the building and "are ordering shutdown without court approval".
