Lachlan Murdoch to buy streaming company Roku in $31 billion deal

Fox Corporation, owned by Lachlan Murdoch, will buy streaming company Roku in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $US22 billion ($31 billion), The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

It means that when the deal is finalised, Fox will be in more than 100 million global households.

The Roku channel and its data will be added to the company's already far-reaching sports, news and entertainment network, as well as streaming service Tubi, which it acquired in 2020.

Fox Corp chief executive Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, said in a statement: "Combining the businesses will bring together Fox’s live news and sports content with a streaming platform that has a large viewership.

“Consumers are gravitating toward simpler, more unified experiences on their favourite platforms like Roku.

“Advertisers are reaching similar conclusions, seeking large audiences, improved digital targeting and more consistent measurement across platforms.”

Roku’s chairman and chief executive Anthony Wood said: “The combination with Fox is an extraordinary opportunity to accelerate our vision, scale faster and innovate more aggressively for viewers, partners and advertisers.”

Wood is the founder of Roku, and will join the Fox board of directors.

The SMH reports that Fox will pay $US96 ($136) in cash and 0.9693 shares of its Class A common stock for each Roku Class A and Class B share outstanding. The transaction is valued at $US160 ($226) per Roku share.

Lachlan Murdoch wins the family business in succession battle

In September 2025, Mediaweek reported on the end to the years-long succession battle in the Murdoch family.

A new deal stipulated that the existing family trust will be dissolved. In its place will be two trusts; the first to be shared by Prudence, Elizabeth, and James. It has been valued at $US3.3 billion, which delivers each of them $US1.1 billion each.

The new trust fund held by the trio will be filled with the proceeds of 14.2 million News Corp Class B shares and 16.9 million Fox Corporation Class B shares. The Class B shares will give them voting rights.

Lachlan and his two youngest siblings, Grace and Chloe, will be given their own trust. This trust holds the rest of the Murdoch family stake in the two companies – 33.1 per cent of News Corp and around 36.2 per cent of Fox Corporation.

The new trust for Lachlan, Chloe, and Grace will keep the business in the hands of Lachlan until at least the time comes for the trust to expire in 2050.

Lachlan will keep control of News Corp and Fox Corporation for what may be the rest of his professional life.

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