Fox Corp blames massive quarterly loss on 'legal settlement costs' after Dominion lawsuit

After firing its top-rated host Tucker Carlson — a decision that reportedly came from Rupert Murdoch himself — Fox News watched its ratings plummet in late April. Now, the right-wing cable news channel is receiving some more bad news: major quarterly losses by its parent company Fox Corporation, which released its quarterly earnings on Tuesday, May 9.

Forbes' Derek Saul reports, "Fox reported a $54 million loss for the first three months of the year, a staggering drop from its $283 million profit during the same period last year. In the report, the company attributed the loss 'primarily' to 'legal settlement costs' at Fox News — a nod to its $787.5 million settlement for a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems related to the network's 2020 election coverage."

Dominion sued Fox News for $1.6 billion for promoting the false and repeatedly debunked claim that its voting equipment was used to help President Joe Biden steal the 2020 presidential election. And Dominion's lawyers went to court with a ton of damning evidence, including private texts and e-mails showing that Fox News hosts knew that Biden won the election fairly but were willing to promote the Big Lie anyway.

What Fox News hosts said about the election in private and what they said on the air, according to Dominion, were two different things. And Dominion's lawyers were fully prepared to bring that up during a trial, but Fox News avoided a trial when it agreed to a $787.5 million settlement.

Separately, Fox News is still facing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion competitor Smartmatic. And like Dominion, Smartmatic alleges that Fox News promoted defamatory lies about the company following the 2020 election.

Saul notes that Fox News CEO Lachlan Murdoch has described the Dominion settlement as a "business decision" and said it was in Fox News' "best interest" to "avoid the acrimony of a divisive trial."