Fox News’ parent company is in the middle of a stunning financial revival after a rocky start to 2023 — after the network fired Tucker Carlson long ago and settled a $788 million lawsuit days earlier.
On April 17, the day before it reached its groundbreaking settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox Corp’s stock traded at $33.99 — a figure that had dropped to $30.53 by mid-May.
Carlson — whose career with the station spanned a whopping 14 years — left his show on April 23, with no reason at the time for the company to let go of their most-watched anchor.
Some pundits predicted the network’s demise by cutting one of its biggest stars, but it seems Wall Street at least believes in Fox again.
The stock, once believed to be of the blue-chip variety, has since recovered dramatically and stands at $34.38 as of Wednesday afternoon — about 1 percent higher than its price before the monetary woes began.
Fox News’ parent company is in the midst of a financial revival after a rocky start to 2023 — after the network fired Tucker Carlson and settled a $788 million lawsuit days earlier
On April 17, the day before the settlement with Dominion Voting Systems was reached, Fox Corp’s stock traded at $33.99 — a figure that had dropped to $30.53 by mid-May. The stock, once believed to be of the blue-chip variety, stands at $34.38 as of Wednesday
Former Fox New exec Ken LaCorte, who left the network in 2016 after his longtime ally Robert Ailes was himself ousted over sexual harassment allegations, was one of many to comment on the channels’ comeback on Thursday.
Like Carlson, LaCorte served the network for 20 years, holding several senior management positions during the process.
Now the owner of several competing websites, including Conservative Edition News, Liberal Edition News and LaCorte News, he took the opportunity to label Carlson’s firing last spring a “debacle.”
“Less than 4 months after the debacle of Tucker Carlson’s firing and the $788 million Dominion settlement, Fox stock is now trading higher than before,” the 58-year-old wrote while sharing a chart showing recent volatility and shows the recovery of the share.
Many assumed the 54-year-old’s impeachment was linked to claims that he and other network hosts had spread lies about Dominion machines during the 2020 election — claims Rupert Murdoch’s news station had vowed to fight before finally taking the threw in the towel.
The parent company has since struggled to close the financial gap left by the preeminent host, posting a $50 million loss last quarter and a sharp drop in share price throughout the rest of April and all of May.
Carlson — whose career with the station spanned a whopping 14 years — left his show on April 23, with little reason at the time for the company to let go of their most-watched anchor
Former Fox New exec Ken LaCorte, who left the network in 2016 after Robert Ailes, his longtime ally, was himself ousted over sexual harassment allegations, was one of many to comment on the stock’s comeback Thursday.
In 2021, Dominion sued Fox alleging that the anchor and other network hosts knowingly spread lies about its machines during the 2020 election, in an alleged attempt to help Trump get re-elected.
The lawsuit came at the height of Carlson’s success — and specifically concerned statements made on-air by the TV host and others, such as Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo.
During the discovery of the case, multiple text messages Carlson sent to colleagues over the course of the 2020 election were made public, causing endless embarrassment to the network.
Sent to colleagues like Laura Ingraham, they revealed how Carlson secretly despised Trump behind the scenes — despite his repeated praise for the then-President, whose victory helped further propel his success, in public.
A message sent on November 5 of that year — days after Joe Biden was declared victorious — seemed to show that Carlson realized that a loss to Trump could spell trouble for the network, given how heavily he’s been on it in recent years. the politician had leaned.
“He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,” Carlson wrote of Trump in one of several surprise text messages obtained by the polling station — which claimed in court that the correspondence served as evidence that he knowingly made false statements. spread information.
On November 17, Carlson sued lawyer and frequent Fox guest Sidney Powell for pushing the voter fraud conspiracy — despite apparently agreeing with the theory several times on air himself.
Many assumed the 54-year-old’s impeachment was linked to claims that he and other network hosts spread lies about Dominion machines during the 2020 election – claims the buyer’s news outlet Rupert Murdoch had vowed to fight before he finally threw in the towel
Sidney Powell is lying. F***ing bitch,’ he wrote.
A day later, in a message to Ingraham, Carlson explained, “By the way, Sidney Powell is lying. I caught her. It’s insane.’
Then, after the uprising on January 6, Carlson took aim at the ex-president himself, saying he couldn’t wait to be out of office—and, more importantly, run out of news headlines.
“We are almost able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson wrote in a post. “I really can’t wait.”
He added, “I hate him passionately.”
The messages, lawyers hired by the Toronto-based polling agency said, served as evidence that Carlson and others knowingly spread false information that their machines played a role in Biden’s victory.
After a jury was selected and after Fox promised a strong, acrimonious lawsuit, the network inexplicably backed down and agreed to settle the largest civil settlement in history.
The move surprised many who thought Fox would never have bounced back from a fight when it came to their lucrative golden boy.