One of the largest asset management companies in the world has found itself in the crosshairs of a recent media departure that took social media by storm. Here are the details.
What Happened: Fox News shocked the world Monday by announcing that media personality Tucker Carlson and the network had agreed to part ways.
The cable network, owned by Fox Corporation FOXFOXA, announced the mutual agreement in a statement that comes shortly after the media company agreed to a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over allegations of fraud and fixing the 2020 election.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” Fox News said.
Some on social media were mad that Carlson will not get a proper farewell and sendoff with his last Fox News Tonight episode airing last Friday, April 21.
Social media was set abuzz on Monday after the departure, wondering what’s next for Carlson and also if the timing of the Dominion settlement and a stake owned by an asset management company played into the decision.
Part of the lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion centered on anchors like Carlson and Sean Hannity, who privately brushed off claims of election fraud but may have encouraged the claims with guests on air.
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The BlackRock and Fox Link: One of the largest owners of Fox Class A shares is BlackRock BLK. The asset management company reported a stake of 45,743,746 shares in a recent filing, representing 15.1% ownership of the media company.
The stake was increased from a reported 39,865,263 shares in January, representing 12.9% ownership of the company.
BlackRock owned 11.6% and 10% of Fox Class A shares in 2021 and 2020 respectively according to filings from Fintel.
With its ownership, BlackRock is the largest institutional owner of shares, but the media giant is still heavily owned and controlled by the Murdoch family.
Many were quick to point out that BlackRock, led by Larry Fink, could have demanded the removal of Carlson, especially after the settlement was made with Dominion.
While many on social media was quick to point out the ownership of Fox shares by BlackRock, they may have gotten another ownership stake wrong. Several posts called out BlackRock owning stakes in both Fox and Dominion Voting, which means the company had one unit sue another and ended up with a settlement before getting Carlson ousted.
Dominion Voting was acquired by private equity company Staple Street, which owns 76% of the company. An additional 12% of the voting machine company is owned by co-founder and CEO John Poulos. There is no direct link to BlackRock and Dominion Voting that has been found at the time of writing.
Instead, some people on social media may have been mixing up Dominion Voting with Dominion Energy D, a large power and energy company.
Filings show that BlackRock owns 7.1% of Dominion Energy.
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