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Infowars is available for purchase. (Alex Jones is sold separately.)
Yesterday, at the behest of a Houston bankruptcy judge, it was determined that the assets of Infowars kingpin Alex Jones will be sold at auction. The proceeds will go to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims. So far, Jones owes a grand tally of $1.4 billion — with more damages still to be tabulated.
Presumably, Jones’s assets will include the Infowars website, broadcasting equipment, social media accounts, trademarks and copyrights, and its entire catalog of content. That’s ample fodder to launch an alternative media platform ASAP — virtually overnight.
All the infrastructure is right there to hit the ground running.
The “Infowars” brand definitely has financial value: It’s drawn a ton of eyeballs, enjoys vast name recognition, and has successfully sold lots of products. But how to quantify its value is tricky: Do you focus on retaining core Infowars fans? Can you steer the site towards a more mainstream direction? Or is the lingering toxicity of Alex Jones a deal-breaker that will always kneecap its long-term growth potential?
It’s kind of an unfair question, because — good or bad — the Infowars brand is the Alex Jones brand. The two are synonymous; they’re inexorably intertwined. So if you value the former, you probably value the latter.
Will someone buy Infowars, hire Alex Jones as its on-air talent, and then try to rebuild the platform? It’s possible. Jones has some deep-pocketed fans and supporters. If you can afford it, why not buy Infowars? It would be a cool passion project.
