Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

Fox is a big American television company. Roku makes the software inside many smart TVs. On Friday, 6 November, Fox bought Roku. The price was 22 billion dollars.

More than 100 million homes use Roku to watch television. Now all of those homes belong to a Fox business. This is a very large change for television.

Roku will keep its name. People can still watch Netflix and other services on it. Fox promised to keep the service open to other companies.

Anthony Wood started Roku more than 20 years ago. He will now join the group of leaders at Fox. The owner of Fox is Lachlan Murdoch.

television

A device and a service for watching programmes at home.

to buy

To pay money to own something.

a billion

One thousand million.

software

The programs that make a computer or a TV work.

a home

The house or flat where a person lives.

to promise

To say clearly that you will certainly do something.

open

Free for other people or companies to use.

a leader

A person who is in charge of a group or a company.

Level 2 — Elementary

Fox Corporation completed its 22 billion dollar purchase of Roku on Friday 6 November, several months earlier than expected. Fox first announced the deal in June and had told investors it would probably close in the first half of 2027.

Roku shareholders received 95.30 dollars in cash plus 0.9799 of a Fox Class A share for each share they held. After the deal, Fox investors own about 74 percent of the combined company and former Roku investors own about 26 percent.

The numbers behind the deal are large. Roku reaches more than 100 million households, and Fox already owns the free streaming service Tubi, which reports 110 million monthly active users. Fox says the combined business is now the third largest television business in the United States measured by viewership. The company expects to save about 400 million dollars a year within two years.

Lachlan Murdoch, who runs Fox, said that "the closing of this acquisition advances the long-term strategy of FOX". Anthony Wood, who founded Roku more than two decades ago, said: "We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn't change today." Wood joins the Fox board of directors.

to complete

To finish something fully.

a shareholder

A person who owns part of a company.

cash

Money in the form of notes, coins or a direct payment.

combined

Joined together into one.

a household

All the people who live together in one home.

monthly active users

The number of people who use a service at least once a month.

viewership

The number of people who watch a channel or service.

a board of directors

The group of people elected to oversee a company.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Fox Corporation closed its 22 billion dollar acquisition of Roku on Friday 6 November, completing in under six months a transaction it had expected to spend a year clearing. The consideration was a mix of cash and equity: 95.30 dollars in cash plus 0.9799 of a Fox Class A share for every Roku share, leaving Fox holders with roughly 74 percent of the enlarged company and former Roku holders with about 26 percent.

Regulatory risk had been the main obstacle. The Department of Justice issued a second request for information in September, a step that often signals a long fight, then closed its inquiry after concluding that "the Division anticipates that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition". Fox softened the path with binding commitments: it will carry non-Fox content on Roku for at least three years, will not discriminate against rival services in search results, will let viewers rearrange apps on the home screen, and will maintain internal data firewalls so that advertising data from rival services cannot be used against them.

Strategically, the logic is distribution. Roku software sits in more than 100 million households, and Fox already operated Tubi, a free ad-supported service with 110 million monthly active users. Nielsen data for August credited Tubi and Roku together with 4.8 percent of all streaming viewing and 8.5 percent of total television viewing, which TheWrap ranked fourth among media distributors behind YouTube, Skydance and Disney. Fox prefers a different yardstick and calls the combined company the third largest American television business by viewership.

The organisational chart tells its own story. Roku now sits inside a new division, Fox Digital Platforms, co-chaired by founder Anthony Wood alongside Paul Cheesbrough, who is also its chief executive. Mustafa Ozgen continues to lead Roku itself, while Charlie Collier, Roku's president of media, is departing, as is Tubi's Anjali Sud, with Mike Bidgoli promoted to run Tubi. Lachlan Murdoch framed the priority carefully, saying the aim was to serve audiences and partners "while reinforcing the openness and choice that is the essence of the Roku platform". Fox is targeting roughly 400 million dollars in annual cost savings within two years.

an acquisition

The purchase of one company by another.

consideration

What a buyer gives in exchange, in cash, shares or both.

equity

Ownership in a company, usually in the form of shares.

a second request

A formal US demand for more information before a merger is cleared.

binding commitment

A promise that can be legally enforced.

a data firewall

A rule or system that stops information moving between parts of a company.

ad-supported

Free to use because advertising pays for it.

Level 4 — Advanced

Fox Corporation's 22 billion dollar absorption of Roku closed on Friday 6 November, barely five months after it was announced in June and well inside the first-half-of-2027 window the company had previously guided investors toward. The consideration blended cash and paper, 95.30 dollars plus 0.9799 of a Fox Class A share for each Roku share, producing a pro forma register in which legacy Fox holders retain roughly 74 percent of the enlarged entity and former Roku shareholders take about 26 percent. Roku's listing on the Nasdaq ends with the close.

Antitrust was the binding constraint, and the manner of its resolution is instructive. The Department of Justice's September second request suggested an extended review; its subsequent decision to close the inquiry rested on the finding that "the Division anticipates that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition". Fox secured that outcome by conceding structural behaviour rather than assets. It undertook to carry non-Fox programming on Roku for a minimum of three years, to refrain from discriminating against third-party services in on-device search, to preserve the viewer's ability to reorder applications on the home screen, to keep supplying data products to third parties on commercially reasonable terms, and to maintain data firewalls around rival services' viewing information for at least three years. Remedies of this kind are cheaper than divestitures but costlier to police.

The commercial rationale is a bet that distribution, not programming, is the scarce asset in connected television. Roku's operating system is resident in more than 100 million households; Fox already controlled Tubi, whose 110 million monthly active users make it the largest free ad-supported service of its kind. Nielsen's August measurement credited the pair with 4.8 percent of streaming viewing, level with Disney, and 8.5 percent of all television viewing, which placed the combination fourth among American media distributors behind YouTube, Skydance and Disney. Fox, selecting a more flattering metric, describes the result as the third largest television business in the United States by viewership. Management projects approximately 400 million dollars of run-rate cost synergies within two years of close and accretion to free cash flow per share by the second full year.

Governance reveals the asymmetry of the merger more candidly than the press release. Roku has been folded into a newly minted division, Fox Digital Platforms, co-chaired by founder Anthony Wood with Paul Cheesbrough as co-chair and chief executive; Wood also takes a seat on the Fox board. Mustafa Ozgen retains operational command of Roku, but Charlie Collier, its president of media, exits, as does Tubi's Anjali Sud, whose position passes to Mike Bidgoli under Pete Distad's direct-to-consumer remit. Lachlan Murdoch pledged that the combined company would serve audiences and partners "while reinforcing the openness and choice that is the essence of the Roku platform", a formulation whose durability the Justice Department's three-year commitments were written to test.