--- title: Fox Now Owns Roku After Promising Regulators to Keep Rival Apps on It for Three Years description: Fox closed its $22 billion Roku deal on Nov. 6 after committing to the Justice Department to keep rival apps on Roku for at least three years. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-10T15:26:33.908Z updated: 2026-11-10T15:26:33.967Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/did-fox-buy-roku image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/roku-streaming-stick-fox-547771.webp categories: Business content_type: News region: United States publication: Sovereign Magazine schema_type: Article about: - type: Organization name: Fox --- Fox Corporation completed its purchase of Roku on Nov. 6, the same day the US Justice Department closed its antitrust investigation of the deal and said Fox had committed that Roku "will remain an open and neutral content partner post-merger." Fox agreed to the roughly $22 billion acquisition in June and [said then](https://www.foxcorporation.com/news/corp-press-releases/2026/fox-corporation-to-acquire-roku-inc/) that it expected to close in the first half of 2027. Fox now owns Roku's TV platform, which reaches more than 100 million households, alongside Fox News, Fox Sports and Tubi, Fox's free, ad-supported streaming service. Roku shareholders get $95.30 in cash and 0.9799 Fox Class A shares for each Roku share they held, and Roku stock stopped trading on Nasdaq on Nov. 6. Existing Fox shareholders now own about 74% of the company and former Roku shareholders about 26%, Fox said. ## Fox Will Not Favor Its Own Content in Roku Search Results Under [the commitments the Justice Department published](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-department-justice-antitrust-division-closing-its-investigation-merger-fox-and), Fox will keep carrying non-Fox content on Roku for at least three years, in line with Roku's past practice, and will not discriminate against non-Fox content in search results. Roku users can still rearrange the apps on their home screen. Fox will keep offering data products to third parties on commercially reasonable terms under Roku's standard distribution agreement. For at least three years it will also keep the data firewalls already written into Roku's contracts with content partners, which cover the click, search, view and voice data that rival apps generate on Roku devices. Lachlan Murdoch, Fox's executive chair and chief executive, said: "Beginning today, our top priority for the combined company is to continue to relentlessly serve audiences and partners, while reinforcing the openness and choice that is the essence of the Roku platform." ## The Justice Department Said New Free Streamers Would Keep Competition in Check The department's Antitrust Division had sent both companies second requests for more information. It examined whether the merger could hurt competition between free, ad-supported streamers, since Fox owns Tubi and Roku runs The Roku Channel, and whether Fox could use Roku to disadvantage its content rivals. On the first, the department said new free streaming services would enter the market in a way that was "timely, likely, and sufficient to make a substantial risk of harm to competition unlikely." On the second, it said Roku depends on content from many providers to attract viewers, so the merged company "would suffer monetary and reputational harm" if it turned the platform against Fox's competitors, and viewers could switch to other connected TV platforms. The department said it will keep watching the industry and "may take appropriate action in light of changing facts or circumstances." Under the merger agreement signed June 14, Fox would have owed Roku a $1.24 billion termination fee if an antitrust injunction had ended the deal or the required regulatory approvals had not arrived before the deadline, according to [Roku's securities filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1428439/000114036126025115/ef20076172_8k.htm). ## Anthony Wood Joins Fox's Board and Co-Chairs Its New Digital Division Roku founder Anthony Wood joins Fox's board and becomes co-chair of FOX Digital Platforms, a new division that holds Roku, Tubi, [FOX One](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/sports-media-giants-bet-big-on-streaming-tech-as-espn-and-fox-launch-new-services), Red Seat Ventures and Fox's other digital products. Paul Cheesbrough is the division's other co-chair and its chief executive. "We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn't change today," Wood said. "What does change is our reach and resources." He added that Fox "wholly shares our commitment to staying open to every content partner." ## Fox Expects About $400 Million in Cost Savings Within Two Years Fox expects about $400 million of run-rate cost savings within two years of closing, and expects the deal to add to free cash flow per share by the second full year after closing. When it announced the deal in June, Fox said that, counting Tubi and The Roku Channel, the combined company would be the third-largest player in US television by share of viewing. Fox lined up $12 billion of fully committed bridge financing from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding to pay for the cash part of the deal, and in June it put its expected net leverage at closing at about 2.8 times, counting half of the expected cost savings. ## FAQ **Q: Did Fox buy Roku?** Yes. Along with the TV platform, Fox now owns the rest of Roku's business: its connected TV devices, televisions, streaming players and smart home devices, and The Roku Channel. **Q: How much did Fox pay for Roku?** The June agreement valued Roku at about $22 billion in enterprise value, or $160 a share in cash and Fox stock. **Q: Why did Fox buy Roku?** Fox said in June that buying Roku gives it a wider entry into connected TV, particularly advertising and streaming subscriptions, and puts it across the full video business. Murdoch called the deal the next step after Fox refocused on live news and sports in 2019 and bought Tubi in 2020. **Q: Who advised on the Fox and Roku deal?** Allen & Company was Fox's lead financial adviser, and Morgan Stanley Senior Funding led the debt financing. Qatalyst Partners advised Roku.