The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars was blocked by a judge

The Onion’s acquisition of InfoWars isn’t happening — at least for now. In a ruling on Tuesday, a Texas bankruptcy judge rejected The Onion’s purchase of the conspiracy-ridden website founded by Alex Jones, according to a report from The New York Times.

Last month, The Onion announced that it had purchased InfoWars during a bankruptcy auction of Jones’ assets. It had the support of the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, who successfully sued Jones for more than $1 billion for spreading false claims. However, Judge Christopher Lopez halted the sale shortly after the auction.

As reported by The Times, Lopez disagreed with the sealed bidding process used to sell Jones’ assets, saying that the auction didn’t “maximize” the amount of money Jones’ creditors could’ve gotten from the sale of InfoWars. “It seemed doomed almost from the moment they decided to go to a sealed bid,” Judge Lopez said when handing down his decision, according to The Times. “Nobody knows what anybody else is bidding.”

The Onion bid $7 million to acquire InfoWars, which included $1.75 million from its parent company Global Tetrahedron, while the remainder would come from money Sandy Hook families won from their lawsuit against Jones, The Times reports. Despite this roadblock, Global Tetrahedron still intends to pursue an acquisition of InfoWars, with the goal of replacing the site with “a relentless barrage of humor for good.”

“We are deeply disappointed in today’s decision but The Onion will continue to seek a resolution that helps the Sandy Hook families receive a positive outcome for the horror they endured,” The Onion CEO Ben Collins said in a post on Bluesky. “We will also continue to seek a path toward purchasing InfoWars in the coming weeks.”