The Onion’s publicized contribution in this saga is $100,000 to the Sandy Hook families, not a direct payment “to the parents” as a purchase price. That money is described as coming from merchandise proceeds tied to the Infowars takeover effort.

What was paid

  • The Onion’s earlier auction bid for Infowars assets was $1.75 million in cash and other incentives.
  • Separately, The Onion said it would send $100,000 to the Sandy Hook families from merchandise sales.

Why the confusion

The money owed to the families comes from Alex Jones’s court-ordered defamation liability, which media reports describe as roughly $1.5 billion or more than $1 billion depending on the point in the reporting timeline. The Onion’s role was in the Infowars purchase effort, while the family payments are tied to Jones’s damages case.

TL;DR: The Onion was reported to be paying $100,000 to the Sandy Hook families through proceeds, and its Infowars bid was $1.75 million.