Fox News’ parent company’s stock tanked Monday after the network announced the ouster of Tucker Carlson, its controversial-but-ratings-darling host, less than a week after the company agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems after Fox figures including Carlson peddled false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
Tucker Carlson gives side eye.
Class A shares of Fox Corporation slid as much as 5.6% in the 30 minutes after its news wing announced it immediately “agreed to part ways” with Carlson.
That erased $700 billion in market capitalization for the Rupert Murdoch-led firm.
The network did not immediately give a reason for Carlson’s departure, but it was a major bombshell considering Carlson’s weeknight program Tucker Carlson Tonight consistently delivered the largest audience in cable news.
$182 million. That’s how much the net worth of Murdoch, Fox Corp.’s executive chairman, slid Monday, according to Forbes’ estimates. The 92-year-old is the 99th-richest man in the world.
Kenneth Leon, CFRA’s research director, downgraded Fox stock from a buy to a hold Friday in the aftermath of the Dominion settlement, slashing his price target for Fox from $41 to $37. Fox’s brand took a “hit with advertisers and marketers,” Leon wrote in a note to clients, lowering 2023 and 2024 earnings estimates by roughly 5% apiece.