Fox completes $22bn Roku acquisition and puts it in a new digital unit

Fox Corporation has completed its acquisition of Roku, the maker of streaming sticks and smart TV software, in a cash-and-stock deal worth about $22bn. The deal closed on Friday, and Roku’s shares stopped trading on Nasdaq the same day.

Fox agreed to buy Roku in June and had expected to close in the first half of 2027. The deal gives it direct access to more than 100 million households that use Roku devices.

Under the final terms, Roku shareholders receive $95.30 in cash and 0.9799 Fox Class A shares for each share. In June, the companies had announced $96 in cash and 0.9693 Fox shares. Former Roku shareholders now own about 26% of Fox.

Roku joins a new division, Fox Digital Platforms, together with the free streaming service Tubi, the Fox One app, and podcast company Red Seat Ventures.

Founder Anthony Wood joins Fox’s board and becomes co-chair of the division, while Paul Cheesbrough is its co-chair and 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.

For Fox, the value lies in Roku’s platform rather than its devices. Roku reaches more than half of all US broadband homes, and its platform business made $4.1bn last year, 87.5% of its revenue, mostly from advertising and deals with streaming services.

As a result, Fox now owns a connected-TV advertising business, data on what viewers watch and a home screen where it can promote its own sports, news and Tubi.

However, that home screen also carries rivals such as Netflix and Disney. Fox has promised to keep Roku open to all partners, and it expects the deal to save about $400m a year in costs within two years.

The deal is part of a wave of media consolidation. Days before it was announced, the US Justice Department cleared Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.