Fox’s $22B Roku acquisition aims to expand its reach into smart TVs, advertising

Fox Corporation has reached an agreement to acquire Roku Inc. for $160 per share, valuing the deal at approximately $22 billion. This significant move aims to integrate Fox’s extensive broadcast and streaming assets, including channels such as Fox News and FS1, with Roku’s popular streaming services and hardware offerings. Roku, which boasts a user base of 100 million households, is not just known for its streaming devices but also for its robust operating system and advertising business. In the last quarter, Roku's advertising and subscription services generated a gross profit of $584.1 million, with the advertising segment alone contributing $371 million in revenue. While the company faced a loss of $19.1 million in hardware sales, its profitability surged during the pandemic in 2021, despite not achieving annual profitability again until 2025. The merger is expected to facilitate faster growth and profitability for Roku. As CEO Anthony Wood noted in a call with investors, this collaboration will enhance Roku's ability to implement its strategic plans efficiently. Both Fox and Roku have committed to maintaining Roku as an open and partner-friendly platform, ensuring continued access to Fox content. According to the announcement, the combined entity will position itself as the third-largest player in the U.S. television landscape by viewing share. This statistic is based on Nielsen's data from March, which lists YouTube, The Walt Disney Company, and NBCUniversal/Versant as the top three distributors, with Fox and The Roku Channel following behind in fourth and ninth places, respectively.