Fox Corporation To Acquire Roku

Fox Corporation announced Monday, June 15th that the company has entered into a definitive agreement under which FOX will acquire Roku for $160 per share, valuing Roku at approximately $22 billion in enterprise value. This marks the first major acquisition since CEO and Chairman Lachlan Murdoch, the son of Rupert Murdoch, took control of the company last year. Roku has been one of the most influential pioneers of the streaming TV era, and is currently the top streaming platform in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (measured by total hours streamed, according to December 2025 data from Hypothesis Group). Roku offers a collection of streaming media players, smart TVs, connected audio, and smart home products. The company also owns and operates The Roku Channel, which is home to premium and free entertainment; Howdy, a low-cost subscription service; and Frndly TV, a live TV streaming service. The company gathers valuable first-party data from more than 100 million global streaming households. FOX executives told investors that Roku’s viewership data and targeting capabilities will be invaluable for increasing ad revenue. 

FOX owns Tubi, an ad-supported streaming television service, and continues to be a leader in sports, news, and entertainment content for linear TV. Together, FOX and Roku will “create a scaled next-generation media and technology company positioned at the intersection of two of the most important forces reshaping video consumption: the enduring primacy of live sports and news, and the continued rise of streaming,” according to a press release from FOX announcing the planned acquisition. Since selling the majority of its entertainment assets to Disney in 2019 for an estimated $71.3 billion, FOX has reportedly invested significantly in news and sports content. FOX acquired the Tubi streaming service, which largely offers on-demand content (as opposed to The Roku Channel’s linear programming) in 2020. Interestingly, FOX raised the $440 million needed for that acquisition by selling a 5% stake in Roku, which FOX had held since 2013. 

FOX says that Roku will continue to operate as “an open, partner-friendly platform” under this new ownership. Together the two companies will reportedly become the third-largest player in U.S. television by share of viewing. FOX’s sports, news, and entertainment content will combine with Tubi and The Roku Channel, trailing behind only YouTube and Disney/Hulu for total viewership, according to FOX. The combination also spans every major viewing environment – broadcast, cable, local TV, and streaming – resulting in “broad and diversified reach that benefits viewers, partners, and advertisers,” according to FOX. 

This is a defining moment for FOX, and a natural extension of the deliberate and focused strategy we have been executing for nearly a decade. In 2019, we reoriented the company around live news and sports. In 2020, we acquired Tubi and under our stewardship it has become one of the most successful businesses in streaming. Today, we take the next step: bringing together the most valuable live content portfolio in video consumption with the preeminent streaming platform through which America watches it. This combination will transform the scope of our company into high-growth verticals and yield a step change in our overall growth profile. And we are executing this acquisition from a position of financial strength – maintaining our investment grade balance sheet while providing our shareholders with an uninterrupted return of capital program in the form of share buybacks and dividends. Roku pioneered streaming TV and scaled it into a leading CTV platform. Together, we intend to lead its next chapter.

— Lachlan K. Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation

Roku’s founder, Anthony Wood, stands to make as much as $3 billion on the sale, according to a report from Reuters. And perhaps for good reason — Roku brings significant value to the table with its vast reach. The Roku platform is reportedly used in more than half of all U.S. households with a broadband internet connection. But investors aren’t convinced. As of Monday’s close, FOX stock had dropped by more than 15% to $49.96 per share. The acquisition will include roughly $14.6 billion in cash, with the rest paid in stock. The cash portion of the transaction will be partially covered by cash on hand, but FOX will be taking on $8.3 billion in new debt. The company has obtained $12 billion of fully committed bridge financing from Morgan Stanley, according to a statement from FOX. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2027.

Over the past two decades, we've built Roku into the leading TV streaming platform, reaching more than 100 million households globally and reshaping how people discover and enjoy entertainment. I'm incredibly proud of what our team has built, and the combination with FOX is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster, and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers. That’s why our Board of Directors unanimously determined after concluding its strategic review process that this transaction offers a significant premium to Roku shareholders while also providing them with the opportunity to participate in the compelling future upside of the combined company. I couldn't be more excited about what we’ll accomplish together.

— Anthony Wood, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Roku

FOX is in a strong position, ranked #1 in live news and sports, with a portfolio that includes the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, Big Ten, FIFA World Cup, FOX News, and FOX Business. But that’s no guarantee of success. Though there has been a recent uptick in major mergers and acquisitions, we don’t have to look back very far to remember that these deals don’t always go to as planned. In 2018, AT&T acquired Time Warner for more than $108 billion, ostensibly under the impression that owning a chunk of the content delivered via its 5G and broadband networks would promote its core businesses. By 2021, AT&T jumped ship and sold WarnerMedia to Discovery, Inc., which is now in the process of selling Warner Bros. once again, this time to Paramount. But for a traditional TV company like FOX, investing in the world of streaming might be a way to “answer long-term concerns about a legacy in PayTV,” according to J.P. Morgan analyst Cory Carpenter. It might be a gamble, but the acquisition of Roku represents an essential pivot toward the digital future, and that’s a risk that FOX is apparently willing to take.