Fox closes $22B Roku takeover, becomes third-largest US TV business

The latest:

Fox has closed its $22 billion purchase of Roku, one of the largest media transactions of recent years, formally bringing the streaming platform under its ownership. Fox said the combined company now ranks as the third-largest television business in the United States by viewership. The closing was announced Friday, well ahead of the timeline the two companies set when they unveiled the deal.

Details:

• The price: The transaction is valued at $22 billion, according to Fox, making it one of the biggest media acquisitions in recent years. Roku, founded in 2002 as a streaming device maker, now sits formally inside Fox after more than two decades as an independent company.
• The reach: Fox gains direct access to Roku’s base of more than 100 million households. The company said it expects that audience to sharpen its advertising targeting and strengthen its standing in the connected TV market, where ad spending has been shifting away from traditional broadcast.
• The strategic logic: Fox said the acquisition reduces its reliance on traditional television distribution. Legacy broadcasters have been squeezed by cord-cutting, and owning a streaming operating system gives Fox a distribution layer it does not have to rent from a third-party platform.
• Roku’s framing: Roku founder Anthony Wood said in a statement that the company’s original mission of building a better way to watch TV does not change, and that what changes is its reach and resources. He said Roku’s teams would keep building with Fox’s support behind them.
• The antitrust review: The closing comes two months after the Justice Department issued a second request for information, asking both companies for additional data and documents as part of its antitrust review. Earlier this month, reports indicated the deal was nearing US regulatory clearance.
• The timeline: The acquisition closed far earlier than either company had signaled. When the deal was first announced in June, Fox and Roku projected completion in the first half of 2027, roughly a year later than the actual closing date.
• The ranking claim: The third-largest television business ranking is Fox’s own characterization of the combined entity, measured by viewership. The company did not publish the underlying viewership figures or name the two businesses it now sits behind.
• What was not detailed: Fox did not outline how Roku will be integrated operationally, whether the brand will continue to run independently, or what changes advertisers and device owners should expect. No leadership structure for the combined business was disclosed.

Background:

Roku was founded in 2002 and built its position through low-cost streaming players and a TV operating system licensed to manufacturers, later expanding into advertising and its own free ad-supported channel.

Between the lines:

The gap between a projected first-half 2027 close and a November 2026 completion is the most telling detail here. A second request from the Justice Department typically slows a deal rather than accelerating it, and the combination still cleared in roughly five months from announcement. That pace, alongside Fox’s emphasis on cutting dependence on traditional distribution, suggests the regulatory hurdle proved narrower than the second request implied.

What’s next

Watch for Fox’s first earnings report including Roku results, any disclosure of integration plans or leadership changes, and whether Roku’s device and operating system businesses continue operating under their own brand.