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Fox buys Roku for $22B to enter streaming wars
Fox Corporation's biggest bet yet combines broadcast content with connected TV hardware, and Wall Street is already nervous
Fox Corporation just wrote a $22 billion check to acquire Roku, the streaming hardware and platform company that sits in more than 100 million American households.
The transaction, announced on June 15, values Roku at roughly $160 per share. That’s a 28% premium over Roku’s closing price on June 10. Each Roku shareholder gets $96 in cash plus 0.9693 shares of FOX Class A stock per share.
What Fox is actually buying
When more than 100 million households turn on their TV, many of them see Roku’s interface first. Fox is essentially buying the front door to American living rooms.
Fox owns Fox News, Fox Sports, Fox Broadcasting, and the free ad-supported streaming service Tubi. What it hasn’t owned until now is the distribution layer. Roku gives Fox that layer, plus proprietary ad-targeting data that makes every commercial slot more valuable.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch framed the acquisition as a transformative moment for the company, positioning the combined entity among the top three players in the US television landscape.
Wall Street’s verdict: skeptical
Investors did not share Murdoch’s enthusiasm. Fox’s shares dropped more than 15% following the announcement. Roku’s stock moved in the opposite direction.
Fox plans to finance the acquisition using a combination of cash reserves and new debt. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approvals.
Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood is expected to join Fox’s board after the transaction closes.
The bigger picture: media consolidation accelerates
Tubi gave Fox a free streaming service, but Tubi runs on other people’s platforms. The Roku acquisition changes that equation fundamentally.
What this means for investors
Roku’s platform generates significant money from ads served on its home screen and within its free channels. If Fox can layer its content portfolio, particularly live sports and news, onto Roku’s ad-targeting infrastructure, the combined advertising business could be substantially larger than either company’s standalone operation.