The Onion Has Been Sold To Univision
By Mae Rice in News on Jan 19, 2016 3:47PM
Univision Communications Inc. has bought a “controlling stake” in The Onion, a Chicago-based satire juggernaut that covers The Onion (duh), Clickhole, The A.V. Club, and others, according to NPR. Univison will have a 40 percent stake in the company, and the option to “buy it outright” if they see fit.
Representatives for the Onion and Univision haven’t confirmed the deal publicly, but NPR’s report is based on comments from “a person with direct involvement in the negotiations”—confirmed in broad strokes by a second person, a Univision employee, and an internal memo NPR obtained.
In the memo in question, The Onion’s CEO, Mike McAvoy, said the following, according to NPR:
So what does this mean for us as a company? Good things. Univision is excited to help Onion Inc. grow, and to provide the resources to both support our long-standing mission and fund new initiatives. They'll help us keep the foundation strong and to build great new things on top of it. As an independent media company, we've always been forced to run a tight financial ship, which has made us smart and lean, but not always ready to invest in the great new ideas that we come up with.
Though Univision is best known for its Spanish-language television programming, it also runs Fusion, an English-language network, and owns The Root, a website geared towards African-American readers, NPR noted.
This is the sort of story that seems like it should end on a really kicky joke, but this isn't actually an Onion article. I think some people will joke about The Onion being in Spanish now? But that joke sucks.