Satirical website ClickHole resumed publishing today, four months after unexpectedly going dark following an acquisition.
“ClickHole has returned from the dead to once again spew viral content all over the internet,” the site said in a Wednesday blog post.
ClickHole was purchased by game-maker Cards Against Humanity from previous owners G/O Media in February. Funding database PitchBook Data Inc. reports the acquisition was valued at a paltry $1 million. At the time, Cards Against Humanity co-founder Max Temkin told Buzzfeed that the deal would allow the site to hire more staff, and that Clickhole employees would become majority owners of the site.
“We just want to give them a chance to do their thing; they’re really capable – really smart and innovative,” Temkin said.
In its post announcing the return, ClickHole staff said the site will remain largely the same as before it went dark, though it will bring back the long-dormant quizzes tab and its Clickventures series of digital choose-your-own adventure stories will also “be making a glorious return with all sorts of brand new journeys for you to enjoy.”
The website also added some key new features– there is an emergency exit and a water fountain for thirsty readers.
In its announcement, ClickHole also said its absence was because “a ruthless private equity company stripped us of most of our resources.” That was a clear reference to Great Hill Partners, the private equity firm that purchased Clickhole, The Onion and former Gizmodo media sites in April, 2019 and renamed the operation G/O media.
Great Hill began overriding the sites’ editorial independence and even demanded sites stop posting high traffic content it appeared to disagree with purely on political grounds. These decisions, among other things, sparked a battle with employees that in November led to the resignation of the entire staff of the company’s second top-trafficking site, Deadspin.
The post was updated to clarify that G/O Media and Cards Against Humanity are separate companies.