Fox Corporation shares dropped on Monday after the media company said in a terse comment that it is parting ways with star host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson, whose last show was on Friday, April 21, is leaving Fox News even as he remains a top-rated host for the network, drawing 334,000 viewers in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic in the 8 p.m. slot for the week ended April 20, according to AdWeek. That was more than twice the audience of his competitors at CNN and MSNBC in the same hour, and also represented a bigger audience than other Fox News hosts such as Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham.
Shares of Fox dropped more than 5%, to as low as $29.27 per share.
Carlson’s abrupt departure comes less than a week after Fox reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which had sued the company in a $1.6 billion defamation case over the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election. Documents revealed during the case proceedings unveiled scornful text messages from Carlson about former President Donald Trump, including one that expressed, “I hate him passionately.”
The host’s comments about Fox management that emerged in the Dominion case played a role in his leaving the network, the Washington Post reported, citing a personal familiar with Fox’s thinking.
On his final show on Friday, Carlson gave no indication that it would be his final appearance. Responses to his departure ranged from glee, with the audience of “The View” reportedly breaking into applause, to disappointment, with Eric Trump tweeting, “What is happening to Fox?”
The departure means that Fox News is losing a top audience draw, coming several years after the network cut ties with Bill O’Reilly, one of its superstars.
O’Reilly left the network in 2017 after sexual harassment claims were filed against him, with Carlson taking his spot in the 8 p.m. hour. But Carlson’s ratings are far below O’Reilly, who averaged 728,000 viewers ages 25 to 54 in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Hollywood Reporter. By comparison, Carlson’s viewership in that demographic during the first three months of this year averaged 443,000.
At the same time, Carlson is facing allegations from a former employee about the network’s “toxic” work environment. Abby Grossberg, who worked as head of booking on Carlson’s primetime program, claimed last month in court papers that she endured an environment that “subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes, typecasts religious minorities and belittles their traditions, and demonstrates little to no regard for those suffering from mental illness.”
Grossberg also alleged Fox’s legal team “coerced” her into providing misleading testimony in Dominion’s defamation case.
