Achi news desk-
G/O Media announced Thursday that it has sold The Onion, a satirical news site, to a group of digital media veterans.
The Onion, which began in 1988 in Wisconsin as a satirical weekly newspaper and later became a website, is known for its parodies of current events. For the past decade, he has reissued the same headline after nearly every mass shooting: “No Way to Stop This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Happens Regularly.”
In an email to G/O Media staff obtained by The New York Times, Jim Spanfeller, the chief executive, said the company was “undergoing an extensive review of our portfolio with the intention of paring down our main sites in terms of audience and revenue.” He said G/O Media has agreed to sell to “a new Chicago company called Global Tetrahedron.”
“This company is comprised of four digital media veterans with a deep love for The Onion and comedy-based content,” Mr. Spanfeller wrote. “The new owners of the site have agreed to keep all The Onion staff intact and in Chicago, something we insisted on being part of the deal.”
The name Global Tetrahedron, in true Onion fashion, is a winking reference to a sinister fictional company that appears in the book “Our Dumb Century,” written by The Onion staff and published in 1999.
The real world Global Tetrahedron is owned by Jeff Lawson, co-founder and former chief executive of the communications technology company Twilio. The chief executive is Ben Collins, who was until recently a senior correspondent at NBC News.
In an interview, Mr Lawson said that he had wanted to buy The Onion for a while and that he had followed the project at various times before contacting Mr. Collins, who started considering the idea early this year.
“The world needs laughter; satirical criticism is needed more than ever,” said Mr Lawson. “And that’s why we think this is the right time and the right way to help The Onion continue to grow, continue to thrive, and frankly I’m worried that if we hadn’t done this, I don’t know what would have happened.”
Mr said. Collins said audiences have a long-standing connection with The Onion and noted that many of the website’s writers and editors have been there for years.
“Our goal is to be stewards for this thing,” he said. “We’re keeping all the writers, we’re going to work with the union, we’re going to make it so they can hopefully get a little more money, and we’re going to give them room to grow. .”
The new owners said they plan to improve user experience on the website and expand into multimedia, but otherwise want The Onion staff members to continue doing the work they’ve been doing.
Mr. Lawson and Mr. Collins, who was in Chicago on Thursday to meet with The Onion’s editorial staff, disclosed the price of the deal. Noah Shachtman, former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, has advised on the project, according to two people with knowledge of the deal.
“The Onion is just an institution,” said Mr. Lawson, adding: “It should be kept and it should be great.”
The site is the latest to be shared by G/O Media, which still publishes a few stalwart internet brands like Gizmodo, The Root and Quartz. In recent years, the company sold Jezebel, Lifehacker, Deadspin and the AV Club. G/O Media was formed in 2019 by private equity firm Great Hill Partners after it bought a collection of websites that were once part of Gawker Media.
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