BusinessJun 15, 2026
Fox Acquires Roku for $22B, Becoming the Third-Largest US TV Player
Media Consolidation
Rhea Lobo
Discover
Fox Corp. agreed to acquire Roku for roughly $22B on Monday, pairing live sports and news content with the most widely used connected TV platform in the US.
That price represents a 33.7% premium to Roku's close on the Thursday before deal reports emerged.
Fox shares fell roughly 17% in early Monday trading on dilution concerns while Roku slipped roughly over 2%
"A defining moment," Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch called the deal on a Monday analyst call. He said it unites Fox's live content portfolio with the platform through which American households increasingly watch it.
The acquisition gives Fox access to Roku's roughly 100M households globally. Roku also logs 145B hours of annual viewer engagement.
"It's the best way to accelerate our long-term strategy," Roku CEO Anthony Wood said, framing the sale as a move from a position of strength rather than necessity.
"It is essential that Roku will remain an open and partner-friendly business," Lachlan Murdoch said.
The combined company is projected to rank as the third-largest US television player by viewership. It would hold roughly a 10% share across Fox's broadcast network, cable channels, Tubi, and The Roku Channel.
The Roku Channel already draws more monthly viewership than any premium streaming service except Netflix, the combined Hulu-Disney+, and Prime Video, per Nielsen data.
Murdoch said Tubi and The Roku Channel will remain separate services after the deal closes. He called them complementary, given that only about a third of their audiences overlap.
The deal adds roughly $8.3B in new debt to Fox's balance sheet. It's expected to generate roughly $400M in annual cost synergies.
After closing, Fox shareholders will own roughly 73% of the combined company, with Roku investors holding the remainder.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by both boards and is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
Fox first took a Roku stake in 2013, sold it in 2020 to help fund the $440M Tubi acquisition, and is now buying the entire company.
PP Foresight analyst Paolo Pescatore said the deal gives Fox greater control over discovery, data, and monetization as TV viewing shifts away from traditional channels.
Allen & Company advised Fox on the deal. Qatalyst Partners served as Roku's exclusive financial adviser.
