Fox Corp buy Roku for $22bn

(Sharecast News) - Fox Corporation has announced a $22bn deal to buy streaming platform Roku which the legacy media group says will give it the ability to reach over 100m households. Fox has offered $160 a share for Nasdaq-listed Roku, equal to $96 in cash and 0.9693 shares of Fox common stock, with Roku shareholders owning 27% of the combined company.

Shares in Roku, which had leapt 20% on Friday to $143.66, were down 2% at $140.80 in early deals on Wall Street. Fox, meanwhile, dropped 18% on the news.

The deal, which combines Fox's sports, news and entertainment content and its Tubi service with Roku's connected TV platform, The Roku Channel, expands Fox's position in high-growth verticals, and increases its scale and reach.

"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," said Fox's executive chair and chief executive Lachlan Murdock.

"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."