As the outlandish nature of his false claims grew, so did his media empire, with annual revenues of up to $80 million, and a fanbase that at his height listened to him on more than 100 radio

The publication plans to reintroduce Infowars in January as a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” like Mr. Jones who traffic in misinformation and health supplements, Ben Collins, the chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, said in an interview.

Like a headline lifted from the Onion, the parody news website is buying conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' Infowars in a bankruptcy auction.