Fox Corp has closed its $22 billion acquisition of Roku, putting one of the largest connected-TV platforms and Tubi’s free ad-supported inventory inside the same company. The deal closes less than five months after it was proposed in June, well ahead of the first-half 2027 window initially projected.
A fast close on big terms
Under the merger terms, each former Roku share converts to $95.30 in cash and 0.9799 shares of Fox Class A common stock. Fox stockholders now hold roughly 74% of the combined company, while former Roku stockholders hold roughly 26%. Roku shares are set to stop trading on Nasdaq as of Friday.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch had indicated this week that regulators outside the United States had approved the combination, and U.S. Department of Justice clearance was reported before the close.
Who runs the platform now
Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood joins Fox’s board and becomes Co-Chair of the newly formed Fox Digital Platforms division. Paul Cheesbrough takes the role of Co-Chair and CEO of that group, which includes Roku, Tubi, Fox One and Red Seat Ventures.
Fox has not detailed how advertising, product and other teams will be structured. Charlie Collier, the former CEO of Fox Entertainment who has been president of Roku Media since 2022, is an obvious bridging executive, but neither company discussed personnel plans during the merger review.
Why this matters for buyers
Roku has said its platform reaches more than 100 million households, most in the U.S. Add Tubi, and Fox now owns both the operating system many viewers use to find streaming content and a growing free ad-supported service. Fox expects $400 million in merger-related cost savings within two years and sees the deal improving free cash flow per share by 2028.
For media planners, the immediate issue is not the brand names but how inventory gets sold. A combined Roku-Tubi pitch would look larger on a reach curve, but it could also hide audience duplication. Key watchpoints:
- Whether Fox sells Roku and Tubi inventory together or keeps those sales teams separate.
- How Fox preserves Roku’s long-standing “openness and choice” for content partners now that it owns competing streaming assets.
- Whether Tubi keeps the autonomy that made it successful after Fox acquired it in 2020.
The strategic logic is vertical integration: controlling distribution plus owned ad inventory gives Fox more leverage over pricing, data and packaging. But the value for advertisers still depends on whether that reach is incremental or overlapping.
What to do now
Buyers should map audience overlap between Roku and Tubi before any bundled offer lands. Use current separate rates as the baseline, and ask Fox’s sales team directly how it will combine reporting and frequency caps. Wood said Roku’s mission “to give people a better way to watch TV” does not change, but advertisers should verify whether the economics of reach do.
The deal creates scale. Planners still need to prove whether that scale reduces duplication or simply repackages it under one seller.
Source: Deadline
