Fox looks set to weather a massive payout to settle its case withDominionVoting System.
It has $4 billion in cash and generates significant free cash flow annually.
The $787.5 million hit, one of the largest defamation settlements ever, isnt likely to disturbFox Newsprofits.
Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Maria BartiromoGetty
Deadline also has confirmed that the sum is tax deductible.
Its unclear if there is any related insurance coverage.
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Fox has enough cash, said one analyst who covers the company.
Its not an issue from that perspective.
But people were generally considering what they were going to do with this cash.
Said another: There was an expectation there was going to be a settlement.
Obviously, there was some nervousness.
It looks like it was half the value of the suit.
So now people are like, Theres aSmartmaticversion coming for $2.6 billion.
I dont know how these numbers are derived, so maybe they get half of that too?
No trial date has been set, but it might not be until 2025.
Fox confirmed the settlement in an SEC filing today.
We acknowledge the Courts rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.
This settlement reflects Foxs continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards.
There are other uses for Fox cash.
We will be looking at M&A to deploy our capital, Murdoch said.
I think we are in a strong position to capture opportunities when they present themselves.
Also, Wall Street loves stock buybacks.
(Its fiscal year ends in June.)
Wall Streeters were wondering if that might change.
I was surprised at the magnitude of the settlement, one analyst said.
Given Dominions size, this was the cost of preventing a public trial.
The question now is how is a Smartmatic suit going to be different?
What will the judge allow or not?
Will the judge decide that what [Donald] Trump was is newsworthy?
A hearing on that issue is scheduled for next week.
The main impact of this is that Fox will have less cash.
That said, the web link remains a key growth driver for the overall company.
Fox shares ended Wednesday trading down a hair, off 0.45% at $31.06.
They were trading down more than 2% earlier in the session.
