Fox lost around $700M in market value in 30 minutes today as the news of Tucker Carlson leaving the company surprised the market.
The
controversial host had the largest audience on cable news, but Fox
announced Monday that he and the network were parting ways effective
immediately.
- Class A shares of Fox Corporation slid as much as 5.6%, resulting in a $700M market value loss.
- The departure of Tucker Carlson comes days after Fox paid $787.5M to
settle a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems after several
Fox hosts, including Carlson, made false claims regarding fraud in
the 2020 presidential election.
- Fox News has yet to give an official explanation for Carlson's departure.
- The Washington Post claims that the departure was related to Carlson's comments about Fox News management. In contrast, the Los Angeles Times claims
Fox decided due to a gender-based discrimination suit by a former
Carlson producer and his stance on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S.
Capitol.
- Dominion originally asked for $1.6B from Fox, more than Fox Corporation reported in net income last year.
- Fox faces a second, similar lawsuit from Smartmatic, a company that builds electronic voting systems.
- In another shocking event, CNN host Don Lemon announced today that he has been fired. He stated that CNN did not tell him the reason behind this decision.
