Just a few weeks after selling Deadspin, G/O Media sent a memo to its staff Thursday announcing that the satire site The Onion would also be sold.
In the memo obtained by The New York Times reporter Katie Robertson, G/O CEO Jim Spanfeller revealed the site had been sold to a Chicago-based firm called Global Tetrahedron. The site’s staff will remain intact.
“This company is made up of four digital media veterans with a profound love for The Onion and comedy based content,” Spanfeller said. “The site’s new owners have agreed to keep The Onion’s entire staff intact and in Chicago, something we insisted be part of the deal.”
More here — this is the email Jim Spanfeller, CEO of G/O Media, sent out today. And yes I’m told Global Tetrahedron is in fact a real company pic.twitter.com/AeqYY96yW7
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) April 25, 2024
Longtime fans may recognize the name Global Tetrahedron from The Onion’s 1999 book Our Dumb Century. In the book, Global Tetrahedron is a small company that becomes an evil conglomerate.
Times reporter Ken Bensinger discovered that a new company called “Global Tetrahedron LLC” was registered in Illinois on April 16.
“Global Tetrahedron” is a fictional company in the book “Our Dumb Century,” published by The Onion in 1999. It starts small but becomes an evil planetwide conglomerate.
Now it apparently is a real company and it just bought the Onion in 2024 https://t.co/0Z8WeNleHC
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) April 25, 2024
Illinois state records show that on April 16 (9 days ago), a new company called “Global Tetrahedron LLC” was registered with a registered agent in Springfield. But the principal address is in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/UIZJbf3REK
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) April 25, 2024
The Onion is the latest outlet affected by G/O’s major portfolio shake-up. In March, G/O sold Deadspin to European firm Lineup Publishing. Lineup, however, opted not to retain the staff and everyone was laid off.
