For nearly four decades, The Onion has been making Americans laugh by pretending to report the news. Its headlines are so sharp, its satire so precise, and its deadpan delivery so perfect that countless people have fallen for its fake stories as if they were real. But behind all the jokes, the fictional press conferences, and the brilliantly absurd articles, there is a very real — and surprisingly dramatic — ownership story. And right now, in April 2026, The Onion just made the biggest and most audacious move in its entire 38-year history: a deal to take over InfoWars, the conspiracy website built by Alex Jones.
Here is the complete, verified ownership story of The Onion — from its first issue printed on a college budget in 1988 to the headline-grabbing news happening today.
The Onion is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is currently based in Chicago, but originated as a weekly print publication on August 29, 1988, in Madison, Wisconsin. The Onion began publishing online in early 1996.
Over nearly four decades, The Onion has evolved from a scrappy college-town newspaper into the most recognized name in American satirical journalism. Its writers have influenced an entire generation of comedians, journalists, and storytellers. Its headlines regularly go viral. And its ability to expose the absurdity of real news — often more effectively than real news can — has made it genuinely culturally important, not just funny.
As of March 2026, the print edition of The Onion had 65,000 subscribers.
Who Owns The Onion Right Now?
On April 25, 2024, G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller told employees that G/O Media had sold The Onion to Chicago firm Global Tetrahedron, which is owned by Twilio founder Jeff Lawson, with former NBC News reporter Ben Collins serving as CEO.
So the direct answer is this: The Onion is currently owned by Global Tetrahedron, LLC — a Chicago-based company whose primary financial backer and majority owner is Jeff Lawson, co-founder and former CEO of the cloud communications company Twilio.
The four media veterans behind Global Tetrahedron are: former Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson; former NBC News reporter Ben Collins; former TikTok executive Leila Brillson; and former Tumblr executive Danielle Strle. Most of Global Tetrahedron’s money comes from Lawson. Collins serves as CEO, Brillson as Chief Marketing Officer, and Strle as Chief Product Officer.
The name Global Tetrahedron is itself a classic Onion joke. Global Tetrahedron is the name of a fictional company in The Onion’s 1999 book “Our Dumb Century.” The company first appears as a small business in the first decade of the 20th century and “gradually grows into a multinational behemoth.” The new owners named their real company after The Onion’s own fictional evil corporation — which is exactly the kind of thing The Onion would do.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Details
| Owner / Party | Role | Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jeff Lawson | Majority Owner & Chairman | Primary financial backer | Co-founder and former CEO of Twilio; based in San Francisco |
| Ben Collins | CEO & Co-Owner | Minority stake | Former NBC News disinformation reporter; based in Chicago |
| Leila Brillson | CMO & Co-Owner | Minority stake | Former TikTok and Disney marketing executive |
| Danielle Strle | CPO & Co-Owner | Minority stake | Former product director at Tumblr |
| Global Tetrahedron, LLC | Parent Company of The Onion | 100% of The Onion brand | Illinois-registered LLC; managed by Lawson Revocable Trust |
| G/O Media | Previous Owner (2019–2024) | Sold The Onion in April 2024 | Owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners |
| Univision | Previous Owner (2016–2019) | Sold to G/O Media in 2019 | Spanish-language media giant; acquired controlling stake in 2016 |
| Tim Keck & Christopher Johnson | Original Founders | No current stake | Founded The Onion in Madison, Wisconsin in 1988 |
| Chad Nackers | Editor-in-Chief | No ownership | Only remaining staff member from The Onion’s Madison era |
The Origin Story: Two Students, $700, and a Fake Newspaper
In 1988, The Onion was founded as a weekly print newspaper for satirical news by University of Wisconsin–Madison students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. Keck’s parents had both worked on The Hammond Times newspaper, and the idea for a newspaper of fake stories came from The Daily Cardinal’s annual April Fools’ Day parody issue.
The first issue hit Madison, Wisconsin streets on August 29, 1988. It was printed on a shoestring budget, distributed for free around campus, and immediately found an audience hungry for exactly what it offered: real-looking fake news, delivered with a completely straight face.
Over the next decade, The Onion grew from a campus novelty into a national publication. The Onion began publishing online in early 1996 — a move that transformed it from a regional print paper into a global phenomenon. By the early 2000s, it had offices in New York City and was one of the most visited humor websites in the world.
The Revolving Door of Ownership: From Students to Univision
The Onion has changed hands multiple times over its 38-year history — each transition reflecting the turbulent economics of the digital media industry.
In April 2000, a $12 million deal for Comedy Central to acquire The Onion fell through amid the dot-com crash. In frustration, Dikkers sold his shares to David Schafer, who managed investments for Strong Capital Management. Unable to support The Onion’s rising costs, Haise sold his ownership shares to Schafer for $1.7 million in April 2003.
Then came the corporate era. Spanish-language media company Univision acquired a controlling stake in Onion Inc. in January 2016. In 2019, G/O Media bought Chicago-based Onion Inc. in a deal with Univision, along with sites formerly housed under the Gizmodo Media Group.
The G/O Media years were difficult. Staff complained about editorial interference, resources were cut, and one by one The Onion’s sister publications were sold off or shut down. Brillson said The Onion was “knee-capped” by its previous owners, G/O Media. The company pigeonholed it as a website rather than a strong multimedia brand with books, a social media presence, and big potential for merchandise, live events, partnerships, and more.
How Jeff Lawson and Global Tetrahedron Rescued The Onion
The rescue of The Onion in 2024 is itself a story worthy of an Onion headline.
Brillson saw Collins’ post about wanting to buy The Onion and messaged him on LinkedIn as “all Millennials do,” writing, “‘sup dude, how do we buy The Onion?” He introduced her to Strle, and then Collins eventually connected with Lawson.
The Onion’s new owner Jeff Lawson said: “The Onion is an institution, a national treasure, and we need it. But its success is based on something different than most media companies. The Onion has been stifled, along with most of the internet, by byzantine cookie dialogs, paywalls, bizarro belly fat ads, and clickbait content. The internet sucks, and it’s time we made it better.”
Under Global Tetrahedron’s ownership, The Onion has moved fast. Under Global Tetrahedron ownership, The Onion redesigned its website, dropping Kinja and carrying significantly less advertising, and launched a subscription that included a new monthly print edition in August 2024. The print revival struck a nerve — by March 2026, it had 65,000 paying subscribers.
The Breaking News: The Onion Takes Over InfoWars
Today — April 20, 2026 — The Onion made history in a way no satire publication ever has before.
The Onion has reached a new deal to take over InfoWars, the conspiracy media company built by Alex Jones. Under the agreement, and with the support of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion will initially pay a monthly licensing fee to the court-appointed receiver overseeing InfoWars. Collins said the company has also signed a deal to purchase the full assets once the current judicial stay expires.
The deal calls for The Onion to pay $81,000 a month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand name, which the receiver says will “cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the assets of the receivership estate” until an appeal filed by Jones is decided and the path is cleared for a sale.
The backstory is extraordinary. Jones was found liable for defamation in 2022 after repeatedly claiming on-air that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a “hoax.” He has yet to pay a single cent of the more than $1 billion in damages he owes the families. As a result, Jones’ assets went up for sale. In 2024, The Onion won a court-mandated auction for InfoWars’ parent company, backed by the Sandy Hook families. But a federal bankruptcy judge halted the sale, citing concerns about the auction process.
Now, with this new licensing deal, The Onion is back — and this time it has a path forward. Global Tetrahedron and The Onion aim to turn InfoWars into a parody of far-right conspiracy websites. Collins states that he has tapped comedian Tim Heidecker to become InfoWars’ Creative Director.
“Eight years, almost to the day, after the Sandy Hook parents first filed suit against Alex Jones, they’ll finally get some justice, and even some money,” said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. “This is a chance to make something genuinely new out of a very broken piece of media history.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns The Onion in 2026?
The Onion is owned by Global Tetrahedron, LLC, a Chicago-based company majority-owned by Jeff Lawson, former CEO of Twilio.
Q2. Who is the CEO of The Onion?
Ben Collins, a former NBC News disinformation reporter, serves as CEO of The Onion under Global Tetrahedron ownership.
Q3. When was The Onion founded and by whom?
The Onion was founded on August 29, 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin by University of Wisconsin students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson.
Q4. Who owned The Onion before Global Tetrahedron?
G/O Media owned The Onion from 2019 to 2024, and before that, Univision held a controlling stake from 2016 to 2019.
Q5. What is Global Tetrahedron?
Global Tetrahedron is the real company Jeff Lawson created to buy The Onion — named after a fictional evil corporation from The Onion’s own 1999 book “Our Dumb Century.”
Q6. Is The Onion taking over InfoWars?
Yes. On April 20, 2026, Global Tetrahedron announced a deal to license InfoWars.com for $81,000 per month, with plans to turn it into a comedy and satire network.
Q7. How many subscribers does The Onion have in 2026?
As of March 2026, The Onion’s revived print edition has 65,000 paying subscribers, launched under Global Tetrahedron in August 2024.
Q8. Does Jeff Lawson run The Onion day to day?
No. Jeff Lawson is the majority owner and Chairman; day-to-day operations are run by CEO Ben Collins, who is based in Chicago.
The Onion is currently owned by Global Tetrahedron, LLC — a Chicago-based company founded in April 2024 and majority-owned by Jeff Lawson, co-founder and former CEO of Twilio. Ben Collins serves as CEO, with Leila Brillson as CMO and Danielle Strle as CPO. Global Tetrahedron bought The Onion from G/O Media in April 2024 for an undisclosed sum, ending a turbulent chapter under corporate ownership and returning the publication to a team that genuinely loves what it stands for.
Founded in 1988 by two University of Wisconsin students with a small budget and a big idea, The Onion is now 38 years old, has 65,000 print subscribers, and just struck the boldest deal in its history — a licensing agreement to take over InfoWars and turn one of the internet’s most notorious misinformation platforms into a comedy network for satire.