(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Fox Corporation’s stock was downgraded on Monday as Fox News ratings continue to decline in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s departure.
Wells Fargo officially downgraded the stock to Underweight and Yahoo! Finance reported “ecosystem risks” when investing in the outlet, according to Breitbart.
“Fox’s earnings are mostly Fox News earnings, and Fox News is facing viewership and share pressures,” analyst Steve Cahall said in a report to clients. “With ecosystem risks also elevated we find our estimate outlook more negative and below the Street.”
Cahall noted that Carlson’s departure was likely a large part of the reason for the sudden drop.
“Fox News’ share of conservative news viewers has fallen from 94% to 84%,” he said. “While the new primetime lineup could drive a rebound, we think Fox News is a Show Me viewership story.”
Fox’s ratings fell drastically after Carlson’s initial departure from the network in May, pulling in only 1.33 million viewers for the prime time slot, as opposed to Carlson’s average of 3.05 million.
A survey from the Economist revealed that a quarter of American adults watch Fox less often after Carlson’s messy departure from the network.
Since his departure, Carlson released a series of segments via Twitter, discussing various topics—including the ongoing Hunter Biden scandal, the developing situation in Ukraine, Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, the presence of federal agents at the January 6 protest and the issue of accepting radical gender theory.
He also interviewed prominent media figures such as actor Russell Brand and influencer Andrew Tate.
Ep. 9 The Andrew Tate interview pic.twitter.com/0KKMzSVmMO
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 11, 2023
All of these segments garnered millions of views—more than Fox News is currently capable of pulling.
Recent reports detailed Carlson’s desire to kickstart a media company of his own, but some speculate that this could be a temporary move to bring attention to a different move.
It is still unclear why Fox and its leading news anchor parted ways, though Carlson is reportedly still under contract with the network.
