Or maybe not.
Both opponents and supporters of the popular right-wing radio host have expressed interest in bidding on the Infowars properties he has built over the past 25 years.
They include Roger Stone, an ally of Jones and President-elect Donald Trump, and leftist anti-Jones media groups. If Jones supporters buy the assets, he could end up staying on Infowars.
Up for sale are everything from Jones’s studio desk to Infowars’s name, video archive, social media accounts and product trademarks. Buyers can even purchase an armored truck and video cameras.
For now, Jones’s personal social media, including his account on X with 3 million followers, are not up for sale, but court proceedings on whether they should be auctioned are pending.
Jones has made millions of dollars from his internet and radio shows, primarily through sales of nutritional supplements, survival gear, clothing and other merchandise.
Jones and other right-wing commentators have catapulted in popularity as many people have moved away from traditional news sources. Trump elevated them further during his 2024 campaign by appearing on several of their podcasts and shows.
The auctions resulted from Jones’s personal bankruptcy case, which he filed in late 2022 after the Sandy Hook families were awarded nearly $1.5 billion in damages in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas over his claims that the school shooting was a hoax.
Many of Jones’s personal assets also are being liquidated to help pay the judgment.
The deadline to submit bids and nondisclosure agreements on the Infowars assets was Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. Central.
After the bids are reviewed, prospective buyers deemed qualified will be invited to a live auction that could see multiple bidding rounds next Wednesday. Any items not sold will be put up at another auction on Dec. 10.
Jones has expressed confidence that supporters—whom he did not name—would buy the assets of Infowars and its parent company, Free Speech Systems, allowing him to continue using its platforms. He also appeared to be preparing for losing the brand because he has set up new websites and social media accounts and has been directing his audience to them.
“There’s a lot of buyers, people that are patriots that want it and will come in,” Jones said on his show in August. “If not … we’ll work with somebody else, fire something up. And it’ll be a little bit of a hiccup for the crew, and things. But that will just make us bigger.”
Jones should be able to build new platforms fairly quickly, said Melissa Zimdars, an associate professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.
“As long as there is an audience hungry for his content—and there is—he’ll be able to utilize X and various fringe social media platforms,” she said in an email.
Mutual appearances by Jones and ousted ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson on each other’s shows fueled speculation that there might be a collaboration between two of the conservative media world’s most influential personalities. Carlson recently launched his own Tucker Carlson Network, which operates largely through streaming subscriptions.
Nonetheless, conservative fans held out hope that the Infowars infrastructure would fall into friendly hands.
Stone said on his X account and on Jones’s show that he would like to put together a group of investors to buy Infowars. He did not return email and social media messages on Thursday.
“I understand the importance of Infowars as a beacon of the truth, as a beacon of truthful information. And therefore, I would like to do whatever I possibly can to ensure, if possible, that Infowars survives,” Stone said on Jones’s show in September.
People on social media also have urged billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, to buy Infowars—an idea Jones has backed—but Musk has not publicly responded to.
On the other side, Jones’s detractors have shown interest in buying Infowars, kicking Jones out and turning it into something else, such as a news site that debunks conspiracy theories or even a parody site. They include officials at two leftist media sites, the Barbed Wire and the George Soros-funded Media Matters for America.
An opinion piece by the Barbed Wire in September by publisher Jeff Rotkoff had a headline that read, “Let’s Buy Infowars. Alex Jones used these exact materials to exploit his viewers, peddle conspiracy theories, and damage the lives of grieving parents. We want revenge.”
Rotkoff, who urged readers to donate money to help put in bids, said Thursday that the Barbed Wire, based in Jones’s home state of Texas, was now unlikely to make any offers.
“[W]e have talked to a number of similarly ideologically aligned bidders, and we are certain we will be outbid,” Rotkoff said in an email.
However, “We’re thrilled that there appear to be multiple well-resourced bidders who share our interest in undoing much of the damage to our country done by Alex Jones,” Rotkoff added. “We’ll be rooting for those folks to be successful.”
He declined to name the other potential bidders with whom he had communicated.
Who exactly has submitted bids so far has not been disclosed. Jeff Tanenbaum, president of ThreeSixty Asset Advisors, which is helping to run the auction along with Tranzon Asset Advisors, would only say there have been a large number of inquiries.
It also remained unclear how much money the auctions might bring in. In court documents, Free Speech Systems listed the total value of its properties and holdings at $18 million. Proceeds from the sales will go to creditors including the Sandy Hook families, who have not yet received any money from Jones and his company.
Confidentiality agreements and sealed bids generally are used in auctions to maximize bid amounts while preventing bidders from talking to each other and driving down the offers. The trustee in Jones’s bankruptcy case said in court documents that the procedures for the Infowars auction were designed to attract the highest possible bids.
Christopher Mattei, a Connecticut lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families, called the auctions an important milestone in their yearslong fight to hold Jones accountable. He also said the families would be seeking a portion of all Jones’s future income.
“From the beginning, the Connecticut families have sought to hold Jones fully accountable for his lies and to protect other families from him,” Mattei said. “Stripping Jones of the corrupt business he used to attack the families while poisoning the minds of his listeners is an important measure of justice.”
The families sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’s hoax conspiracies and threats by his followers.
Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen, is appealing the judgments.
Email messages to Infowars and Jones’s bankruptcy lawyer were not returned.
