Fox Corp. Acquires Roku in $22B Streaming Deal

Is this a streaming masterstroke or a debt-laden gamble?

Published JUN 15

Fox Corp. Acquires Roku in $22B Streaming Deal

Story

Above: The Roku headquarters in San Jose, Calif. on June 15. Image credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Facts

Fox Corporation announced on Monday it has agreed to acquire streaming platform Roku for $160 per share in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $22 billion in enterprise value, with the transaction expected to close in the first half of 2027.
CNBC
FOX News
Under the deal terms, Roku shareholders will receive $96 in cash and 0.9693 shares of Fox Class A stock per share — a roughly 34% premium over Roku's unaffected share price — with Fox shareholders retaining about 73% of the combined company and Roku shareholders holding the remaining 27%.
Variety
The Tech Portal
Fox plans to fund the cash portion of the acquisition through a combination of existing cash and new debt, having secured $12 billion in committed bridge financing from Morgan Stanley, which will add approximately $8.3 billion in net debt to its balance sheet.
Breitbart
Guardian
The combined company is projected to become the third-largest U.S. television player by share of viewing. The boards of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to generate around $400 million in annual run-rate cost synergies.
USA Today
LiveNOW from FOX
Roku, founded in 2002, reported its first full-year profit in 2025 with net income of $88.4 million on revenue of $4.74 billion, and its platform reaches more than 100 million global streaming households, including more than half of all U.S. broadband households.
FOX News
Variety
Roku founder, chairman and CEO Anthony Wood will retain an ongoing role at the combined company and join the Fox board after closing. Fox previously held a 5% stake in Roku from 2013 before selling it in 2020 to help finance its $440 million acquisition of Tubi.
The Associated Press
The Hollywood Reporter

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Fox's $22 billion Roku acquisition is a masterstroke that positions the combined company as the third-largest U.S. television player by viewership. Pairing FOX's live sports and news dominance — the NFL, MLB, FOX News — with Roku's 100 million streaming households creates an unmatched media and advertising powerhouse. This deal accelerates connected TV growth while remaining accretive to free cash flow.

FOX News

PR Newswire

Narrative B

Fox stock cratered over 15% after the Roku announcement, and that market reaction tells the real story. Fox is taking on massive debt to buy a distribution platform whose neutrality with content partners is now seriously in question. Antitrust regulators will almost certainly scrutinize whether Fox favors its own apps, and losing key content partners could undermine the very scale this deal promises.