Weil and Goodwin have taken the lead roles on Fox’s acquisition of streaming service Roku, creating the third biggest television company in the US by share of viewing.
The Fox Corporation is set to acquire Roku for $22bn, which will combine Fox’s sports, news and entertainment programmes, as well as its Tubi streaming service, with Roku’s streaming service: The Roku Channel.
Weil is acting for Fox, led by a New York team including chair of the firm’s corporate practice and its global strategy committee, Michael Aiello, as well as M&A partner Michelle Sargent.
This is the second mammoth deal Weil has worked on in June, as the firm advised Orange on its takeover of French telecoms operator SFR as part of a consortium, valued at €20.35bn, with a team led from the firm’s Paris office by corporate partner Yannick Piette.
Goodwin is advising Roku, led by chair of the firm’s global M&A practice group Joshua Zachariah and corporate partner James Ding in New York, as well as technology group co-chair Craig Schmitz, based in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.
The firm has also been engaged on other megadeals recently, including advising US real estate firm AvalonBay on its $69bn merger with Equity Residential.
Fox’s acquisition of Roku marks a further step into the streaming market, as the television network aims to modernise its platform. In 2020, Fox acquired Tubi for $440m, advised by Kirkland & Ellis and Jenner & Block, with Fenwick & West acting for Tubi. Kirkland also previously took the lead role on Fox’s $1.2bn senior notes offering in 2020.
Commenting on its acquisition of Roku, Fox CEO and executive chair Lachlan Murdoch said: ‘This is a defining moment for FOX, and a natural extension of the deliberate and focused strategy we have been executing for nearly a decade.’
He added: ‘Roku pioneered streaming TV and scaled it into a leading CTV platform. Together, we intend to lead its next chapter.’
The acquisition is the latest megadeal in the media industry, following Netflix and Paramount’s battle to take over Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount emerged victorious earlier this year, with its offer of $111bn being approved by WBD’s board this April.
