'The Onion' Bought Alex Jones's 'Infowars' — But How Much Did The Satire Publication Pay for It?

When it comes to The Onion, the general advice is to not believe anything you read. But this week, they made real and actual headlines. Important ones.

Global Tetrahedon, the supposed company behind the satirical site The Onion, recently collaborated with parents of children who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre to win ownership of Alex Jones's conspiracy site, InfoWars. It's a complex issue that brings things full circle for many people whose lives were forever altered by the conspiracy theories peddled by Jones through his site. Here's what we know about the purchase.

InfoWars was founded by Alex Jones in 1999. The site preyed upon the fears of conservatives, peddling theories on the evils of everything from vaccines to space programs. But perhaps the most insidious legacy of Jones's website came after the horrifying school shooting massacre that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary. The 2012 shooting took the lives of 20 children and six educators. But instead of showing empathy, Jones did something unthinkable: He accused grieving families of being paid actors.

As they grieved the loss of their children, Jones's theories hounded them. Fans of InfoWars harassed the grieving families, and they were treated like government plants, their grief utterly abused and dismissed by Jones for profit. Ultimately, they sued him and won $1.5 billion. Jones was forced to liquidate his assets, including InfoWars, which recently went up for auction.

In collaboration with those grieving families, The Onion purchased InfoWars from auction for an undisclosed price. It's unclear how much they paid, but that The Onion didn't have the highest bid. However, because the proceeds were going to Sandy Hook families, those families were willing to forgo some of their awarded money to pay off other creditors, which sweetened The Onion's deal.

There will be a hearing over the sale, requested by the judge who is overseeing Jones's bankruptcy case. But if that hearing doesn't uncover anything untoward, The Onion will move forward with its newest media member of the family.

So what does that mean for InfoWars? The Onion's satirical parent company, Global Tetrahedron, and its "CEO," Bryce P. Tetraeder, had some thoughts on the matter. And yes, even the company that owns the site is satirical. After all, The Onion has layers. While there were no specifics given, with Bryce calling plans for the future "live," there are some hints peppered throughout a statement left on social media.

In an Onion-worthy diatribe, Bryce explained that InfoWars was uniquely skilled at "manufacturing outrage" and "radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society."

In the statement, Bryce said that they will take leftover funds allocated for the purchase of the site and invest them in philanthropic ventures such as a business school for "promising cult leaders," "a charity that donates elections to at-risk third world dictators," and a "new pro-Bono program pairing orphans with stable factory jobs at no cost to the factories." Remember when we said not to believe anything related to The Onion? Here's a time to exercise that skill.

Yet the tone of the statement says a lot. The utter brutal roast of Alex Jones's legacy and the disdain the company clearly holds InfoWars's efforts through the years suggests that they will be using the site to mock everything the site has stood for for 25 years. While it's not clear if this will just be another arm of The Onion or something else entirely, it's clear that they're hitting the ground running.