Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News Channel, saw its stock fall by $1 billion minutes after news broke on Monday that the cabl...
Fox Corporation, the parent company of Fox News Channel, saw its stock fall by $1 billion minutes after news broke on Monday that the cable news channel had ousted its primetime star Tucker Carlson.
Shares of the company, which also owns other sports and entertainment television networks, dipped more than 5.4% following the news of Carlson leaving the organization, shrinking the company’s value by $1 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported that the corporation’s shares ranked among the S&P 500’s worst performers on Monday. However, as the closing bell rang on Monday, Fox shares were down just under 3%.
Matthew Tuttle, CEO and CIO of Tuttle Capital Management, told Bloomberg that Carlson’s exit is “definitely going to leave a mark on Fox.” In the first quarter of 2023, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” ranked as the highest-rated program in cable news in the younger 25-54 demo, averaging 3.2 million viewers, 443,000 in the demo and 299,000 in the 18-49 category.
Other Fox News Channel shows ranking in the top five programs in cable news include “The Five” (3,058,000), “Jesse Watters Primetime” (2,670,000), “Hannity” (2,505,000), and “Special Report with Bret Baier” (2,200,000).
Although Carlson’s future remains unclear, Tuttle and other investors purchased shares of Rumble, the Peter Thiel-backed conservative video network, and Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company merging with Trump Media.
“Both stocks erased declines, with Rumble stock rallying as much as 3.9%, while Digital World gained 2.2%,” Bloomberg reported.
The news comes on the heels of Fox settling a bombshell defamation suit stemming from the 2020 election by paying Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million — narrowly avoiding a trial, at which Carlson would have been expected to testify.
Carlson’s departure also comes just a week after syndicated talk radio host and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino announced his departure from Fox News, citing a breakdown in contract negotiations.
Carlson has not publicly addressed his exit.
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