Fox Closes $22 Billion Roku Deal, Two Years Ahead of Schedule

By Grace Kim

Fox Corp. closed its $22 billion acquisition of Roku on Friday, well ahead of the 2027 date most observers expected. The deal, first announced in June at $160 per share, makes Fox an overnight heavyweight in digital video advertising and premium streaming distribution.

Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood joins the Fox board of directors. He will serve as co-chair of Fox Digital Platforms, a newly formed division that houses Roku, Tubi, Fox One, Red Seat Ventures and other digital products. Paul Cheesbrough takes the other co-chair seat and adds the CEO title for the division.

"The closing of this acquisition advances the long-term strategy of Fox," Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Corp.'s executive chair and CEO, said in a statement Friday.

What does the deal actually change?

Two things, mainly: scale in advertising and reach in streaming. Fox now combines Tubi and the Roku Channel under one roof, which strengthens its hand in free, ad-supported streaming. And Roku's platform — reaching more than 100 million households — turns Fox into a key distributor of premium subscription services.

Fox has pledged to keep Roku "as a leading open ecosystem for the broader streaming industry." Translation: no automatic prime shelf space for Fox News or the Fox One streaming package. That neutrality matters commercially, because Roku's front end carries Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, HBO Max and every other major service. Undermining that arms-dealer position would damage the platform Fox just paid $22 billion for.

"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," Murdoch said.

Where the money sits

Roku arrives in strong financial shape. In the first nine months of 2026, it beat forecasts with 23% revenue growth, reaching $4.1 billion in sales. Advertising drove about 49% of that; subscriptions accounted for 40%. In the third quarter alone, Roku posted $649 million in gross profit, up 24%, and $183 million in net income — more than seven times the year-prior quarter.

Fox expects roughly $400 million in annualized cost synergies within two years of closing, language that almost always signals layoffs. On the upside, Fox sees potential revenue gains from combining the two businesses and expects the acquisition to be accretive to free cash flow per share by the second full year after closing.

The structure, briefly

The June agreement valued Roku at $160 per share, paid in about $14.2 billion of cash with the remainder in Fox Class A common stock. Shareholders of both companies approved the deal on Oct. 14.

Wood, for his part, framed continuity over transformation. "We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn't change today," he said in a statement. "What does change is our reach and resources. Fox has a deep respect for Roku's culture and wholly shares our commitment to staying open to every content partner."

He added: "I'm proud of what Roku's employees have built, and I'm excited about what comes next."

The early close gives Fox a running start on its streaming strategy going into 2027 — but the first real test will be whether the promised openness survives once Fox starts hunting that $400 million in synergies.