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

Ars Technica News

Summary

Fox Corporation acquires Roku for $22 billion, combining its broadcast and streaming businesses with Roku's platform and advertising to expand into smart TVs and become a top player in US television.

<p>Fox Corporation has agreed to buy Roku Inc. for $160 per share, an approximate enterprise value of $22 billion, the firms announced today.</p> <p>The acquisition would unite Fox’s broadcast channels, including Fox, Fox News, Fox Business, and FS1, as well as its streaming businesses, including Tubi, a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) platform that Fox bought in 2020, with Roku’s own FAST service, The Roku Channel, and Roku’s streaming hardware business, including its streaming sticks and smart TVs. Roku says it has 100 million households using its platform.</p> <p>The most valuable part of Roku’s business isn't its hardware, which lost $19.1 million in the quarter ending March 31, 2026, but its the operating system (Roku OS) and advertising business. In that same quarter, Roku’s advertising and subscriptions business posted a gross profit of $584.1 million, with the advertising business pulling in $371 million in revenue. The COVID-19 pandemic helped Roku become profitable in 2021, but the company didn’t see annual <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rokus-new-ad-deals-and-cost-cuts-help-it-end-a-three-year-profit-slide-0c5678ad">profitability again until 2025</a>.</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/foxs-22b-roku-acquisition-aims-to-expand-its-reach-into-smart-tvs-advertising/">Read full article</a></p> <p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/foxs-22b-roku-acquisition-aims-to-expand-its-reach-into-smart-tvs-advertising/#comments">Comments</a></p>
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# Fox’s $22B Roku acquisition aims to expand its reach into smart TVs, advertising Source: [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/foxs-22b-roku-acquisition-aims-to-expand-its-reach-into-smart-tvs-advertising/](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/06/foxs-22b-roku-acquisition-aims-to-expand-its-reach-into-smart-tvs-advertising/) Fox Corporation has agreed to buy Roku Inc\. for $160 per share, an approximate enterprise value of $22 billion, the firms announced today\. The acquisition would unite Fox’s broadcast channels, including Fox, Fox News, Fox Business, and FS1, as well as its streaming businesses, including Tubi, a free ad\-supported streaming television \(FAST\) platform that Fox bought in 2020, with Roku’s own FAST service, The Roku Channel, and Roku’s streaming hardware business, including its streaming sticks and smart TVs\. Roku says it has 100 million households using its platform\. The most valuable part of Roku’s business isn’t its hardware, which lost $19\.1 million in the quarter ending March 31, 2026, but its the operating system \(Roku OS\) and advertising business\. In that same quarter, Roku’s advertising and subscriptions business posted a gross profit of $584\.1 million, with the advertising business pulling in $371 million in revenue\. The COVID\-19 pandemic helped Roku become profitable in 2021, but the company didn’t see annual[profitability again until 2025](https://www.wsj.com/articles/rokus-new-ad-deals-and-cost-cuts-help-it-end-a-three-year-profit-slide-0c5678ad)\. The planned merger aims to help Roku scale and maintain profitability more easily by enabling Roku “to execute on our strategy faster than we would otherwise by ourselves, even though we’re doing extremely well,” Anthony Wood, Roku’s CEO, said during a call with investors today\. “Fox and Roku are committed to continuing to operate Roku as an open, partner\-friendly platform and to the continued ubiquitous distribution of Fox content\. On a*pro forma*basis, the combined company will become the third\-largest player in US television by share of viewing,” today’s announcement said\. The stat seemingly refers to Nielsen’s data for “aggregated view of total TV usage by media company” in March\. The top\-viewed distributors were YouTube \(13\.2 percent\), The Walt Disney Company \(10\.5 percent\), and NBCUniversal/Versant \(8\.4 percent\)\. Fox was in fourth place \(7\.2 percent\), and The Roku Channel was in ninth \(3 percent\)\.

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