Summary

A federal judge has delayed approving the sale of Alex Jones’ media company, Infowars, to The Onion, amid disputes over the auction process.

The Onion won with a $1.75 million bid supported by Sandy Hook families, who agreed to forego their share of sale proceeds for future revenue from a revamped Infowars, enabling other creditors to collect more.

However, a competing bidder backed by Jones, First United American Companies, contested the sale, claiming its $3.5 million bid was unfairly rejected.

The judge plans an evidentiary hearing to ensure transparency.

  • TheAvarageNerd@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Detailed answer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GmDNz7irGgw

    TLDW: there’s two main parties (excluding lawyers and that kinda stuff) who would receive the money. As it stands right now, one of them would receive 98%, whereas the other would be left with barely anything. The Onion made a deal, that would cut into that 98%, and give the other party 100000 dollars more than what they would get with any other bid if it was shared according to the “proper” split. In return the 98% party gets paid out the rest of their due (potentially more, potentially less) with revenue from running the site.

    I watched the video when it came out. If memory serves me correctly, the 98% party are parents from North Carolina, the others are from Texas. The percentage I wrote is probably wrong too. But it’s definitely a massive discrepancy. The Onion worked this deal out in collaboration with both parties, and there’s definitely a prosocial aspect in the NC parents declining a large chunk od money so the other victims can get more. Though both the NC parents and The Onion could potentially earn back that amount by running the website.

    • HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works
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      2 hours ago

      I believe you got the percentages correct (I watched the video yesterday).

      To everyone looking at the bidding numbers only – they don’t include a lot of concessions the NC parents gave to both the Texas parents and the Onion in order to keep AJ out of the deal.

      The video goes into great detail about how the deal came to be, and how the Onion and NC parents worked HARD to make it the most attractive one to both the trustee and Texas parents.