With the fate of G/O Media uncertain as its editorial employees call on ownership to replace the CEO, Chicago-based Cards Against Humanity is coming to the rescue of one of the company's smaller---and beloved---digital media brands.
Cards Against Humanity announced Monday that it has acquired ClickHole from G/O Media. ClickHole is being reincorporated as an independent business, and its five-person staff will own a majority stake in the company. Cards Against Humanity will take a minority stake, and all ClickHole employees are being retained in the transition.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Wall Street Journal reported in November that G/O was in "advanced talks" to sell ClickHole to Cards Against Humanity for less than $1 million.
Cards Against Humanity said it will relaunch the ClickHole website on a new platform, along with its story archive. The company said it will supply ClickHole with cash to support operations but won't have a role in the day-to-day management of the site.
“We don’t want to be a publisher and we’re not really thinking of this as an investment with a huge return,” Cards Against Humanity CEO Max Temkin said in a statement. “We just want ClickHole to be around for 100 years.”
ClickHole, which is also based in Chicago, was created by The Onion in 2014. It was designed to parody sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy with "viral" content with headlines like Animal Rights Win! Someone Gave This Horse A Computer and 7 Classic ’90s Toys That Weren’t Fun Anymore After 9/11.
ClickHole was an internet sensation almost instantly after its launch, and has been called the "weirdest—and funniest—place on the internet." Its departure from G/O Media, which is owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners and operates several sites like Jezebel, Deadspin and Gizmodo, comes amid a tumultuous time for G/O's digital media brands. Deadspin's entire editorial staff resigned in 2019 after ownership informed employees that the site needed to stick to sports. G/O Media announced in January that it plans to move Deadspin to The Onion's offices in Chicago and is suspending negotiations with unionized employees.
“ClickHole has accumulated this once-in-a-generation team of comedy talent,” Temkin said. “We’re not going to tell them how to run their business. Our goal is just to give them every creative tool that we have.”
