Fox Corporation’s market value tumbled by almost 5% on Monday, erasing $930 million, after announcing that Tucker Carlson was leaving the network.
Shares of the media company pared the losses slightly and were trading at $29.61, down almost 4% at noon eastern.
The split between Carlson and Fox News comes just a week after the network settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $788 million over the network’s coverage of voter discrepancies and allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Fox News released a statement Monday announcing that the network and Carlson “agreed to part ways.”
“Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named,” Fox News Media said.
But Carlson was reportedly “blindsided” by the news and had allegedly learned of the development shortly before the announcement.
Carlson was not only Fox News’ top anchor, but also the top news host on cable television.
Fox’s plummeting stocks only signals the value Carlson brought to the company and his popularity among the conservative base.
Many prominent conservatives rallied behind Carlson following the news and predicted Fox would pay for its decision to fire their mainstay anchor.
“The reason to watch Fox, you’ve got Maria (Bartiromo) in the morning, Jesse (Watters), he is getting there, but Tucker’s really the reason,” said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
“With this, I don’t know any reason to watch the Murdoch empire,” he added.
Read More: Fox News Loses Nearly $1 Billion
https://youtu.be/reePMOy0SU8
