Fox Corporation’s Class A shares experienced a significant drop, plummeting as much as 5.4% after the news broke that Tucker Carlson had left with immediate effect. The company’s value lost over $500 million, which indicates the immense value Carlson brought to the network. Carlson hosted the highest-rated prime-time show on cable TV, Tucker Carlson Tonight, with a nightly audience that at times exceeded 3.7 million viewers, according to the latest Nielsen ratings, excluding sports. The network is expected to recover the majority of its overall viewership once a replacement host is announced. However, analysts believe it will take some time for the stock to recover.
‘Fox Cable News is now in rebuilding mode, and it will likely take time for the stock to recover,’ said Brandon Nispel, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets. ‘With the advertising upfronts right around the corner in May, we wonder what Fox is going to tell advertisers and how it will fill the gap in terms of programming and viewership.’
Carlson’s departure came just days after Fox News agreed to pay $787 million to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems Inc. Investors speculated about Carlson’s next landing spot, causing shares of Rumble Inc., the Peter Thiel-backed conservative video network, and Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company merging with Trump Media, to rally.
Matthew Tuttle, CEO and CIO of Tuttle Capital Management, who bought shares of Rumble, believes Carlson’s exit will ‘definitely leave a mark on Fox.’ As Carlson’s departure creates uncertainty around Fox’s future programming and viewership, analysts believe it is too soon to tell how the network will fare.
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