Lachlan Murdoch: Fox News Maintains Same Course after Dominion Settlement

CNN reporting from New York --

 In spite of the tumultuous and costly period Fox News has been through, they are not altering their path.

 Lachlan Murdoch, head of Fox Corp., declared that there will be no modifications to the course of action at the company's highly rated right-wing channel, even though its most popular on-air personality, Tucker Carlson, got fired and the firm was forced to pay Dominion Voting Systems a staggering $787.5 million to settle a lawsuit, which resulted in the organization posting a loss in its most recent quarter.

 At the Tuesday investor call to discuss financial results, an analyst inquired about the dismissal of Carlson, to which Murdoch answered that there had been no alteration to the programming strategy at Fox News.

 Murdoch acknowledged the success of Fox News and implied that Carlson's dismissal was an adjustment to their strategy, rather than a deviation from it.

 Murdoch commented, "We are constantly modifying our programming and schedule, and that is what we are continuing to do."

 Following the announcement that the firm had experienced a $50 million net loss for the most recent quarter, compared to a $290 million gain the previous year, he made his remarks.

 The company faced a $719 million charge, which was comprised of a variety of expenses, such as the Dominion settlement, other legal disputes pertaining to its news division, attorney fees, and other related costs. These were partially offset by equity earnings of its affiliates and an alteration in the worth of some of its investments.

 The quarterly report did not include any information about Dominion Voting Systems, although it did discuss expenses connected to a legal resolution at Fox News Media. During the call with investors, Murdoch commented that settling with Dominion was in the corporation's and its stockholders' greatest interest, based on court decisions from Delaware that he said narrowed the defense possibilities. He noted that a trial could have caused two to three years of appeals.

 Our team at Fox News should be commended for their excellent journalism and for their care of the Fox News brand, he remarked. Therefore, we are optimistic about the success of the Fox brands and our financial standing.

 Although evidence from internal communications between its anchors showed that many of them were not in agreement with the false conspiracy theories circulated against Dominion Voting Systems after the election, he still defended Fox News' coverage of the issue. This was reported by CNN in April 2023.

 Murdoch informed investors on Tuesday that their organization had always conducted itself as a news agency, reporting on current events. He said they were resolute in their belief that the First Amendment protected them while covering claims made by the current president of the United States. Nevertheless, he lamented that the Delaware court had substantially restricted their defenses and trial through pre-trial rulings.

 Fox was not required to apologize or accept fault as part of the resolution of Dominion's defamation action against them, yet they did state that they recognized "the Court's rulings which determined certain assertions concerning Dominion to be inaccurate."

 A lawsuit from Smartmatic – a voting machine manufacturer –is still pending against Fox, with the company requesting $2.7 billion in damages. Murdoch informed investors that the Smartmatic case is distinct from the Dominion case and that Fox will have more robust defenses to rely on than in the Delaware court that is considering the Dominion case. He predicted that the trial will not start until 2025.

 On April 18, the Dominion settlement was finalized, but it was still accounted for in Fox's Q3--which closed on March 31. When disregarding the legal costs and any other extraordinary items reported recently, it would be fair to say that Fox had a good financial quarter.

 Adjusted earnings of the company were reported to be at $494 million or 94 cents per share, higher than the $459 million seen in the prior year. This figure was better than the estimated 87 cents a share by Refinitiv-surveyed analysts. The success of the firm can be attributed to its profit and revenue growth from the broadcast of the Super Bowl this year.

 The company saw an 18% increase in their revenue, which was slightly more than predicted by analysts, amounting to $4.1 billion. There was a notable 43% rise in advertising revenue, which was largely attributed to the $650 million spent on Super Bowl ads. It should be noted that Fox was not involved in the broadcasting of the 2022 Super Bowl.

 Fox asserted it had $4.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of March, just prior to the settlement. Additionally, it mentioned it had repurchased $1.8 billion in shares within the nine months before the settlement, as part of the $7 billion repurchase plan. The company's total repurchases amount to $4.4 billion.

 Murdoch commented that compared to many other media enterprises, Fox is in a superior position to make it through the numerous delays and income losses that could result from an extensive strike by the Writers Guild of America. As the strike that began last week has already caused some programs, such as late night shows, to go offline, and the production of other shows has been suspended, Fox is better prepared than most.

 Murdoch indicated that the advantage Fox had was that more of its income and returns came from sports and news, areas which were unaffected by the strike.

 He declared that the combination of planned and unplanned programming on the network yields remarkable results.

 Prior to the report, it was already widely known to investors that Fox (FOX) was going to take a hit due to the settlement. Nevertheless, even after the results were better than anticipated, the company's stock only increased by about 1% when the markets opened following the release of the report.

 The approach of utilizing computer technology to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning is known as EdTech. This form of technology can be used to improve instruction, facilitate access to educational materials, and enable students to become more engaged in their own learning. EdTech also has the potential to make the classroom a more interactive and collaborative environment.