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The Fox Corporation faces serious trouble after facing financial backlash after their decision to part ways with the former primetime host Tucker Carlson.
The corporation suffered a loss of $50 million in its first earnings report since its split with Carlson on April 24, while market capitalization fell by $1.36 billion since last month. Stocks are also down by 4.08 percent from $30.82 on April 21, closing at $29.56 on May 8.
Fox News’ viewership has taken a huge hit, with Carlson’s former television slot attracting an audience of 90,000 on May 5. Carlson’s final show attracted nearly three million viewers, according to trade publication Adweek.
Although the reasoning behind the split between Fox and Carlson has not been confirmed, it has been widely speculated that the decision may have been influenced by the recent Dominion settlement.
“We made the business decision to resolve this dispute and avoid the acrimony of a divisive trial and multiyear appeals process, a decision clearly in the best interest of the company and its shareholders,” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in an earnings call with investors, as reported by Reuters.
“With regards to our programming strategy in primetime, there’s no change to our program strategy at Fox News,” added Murdoch. “It’s obviously a successful strategy.”
However, Carlson was reportedly told by a Fox Corporation board member that he was released from the network as part of the settlement with Dominion, according to a report by Axios.
While Carlson may not be a part of the network anymore, he will not let it stop him from speaking about the importance of free speech.
Carlson also announced on Tuesday that a “new version” of his former show would be coming “soon” to Twitter, telling viewers in a three-minute video announcement that the tech giant is the last big platform in the world for free speech.
