Fox Corporation’s stock tumbled on Monday morning in the moments immediately after the company reported Tucker Carlson and Fox News had parted ways.
The tumble is a big indicator of just how valuable Carlson was to Fox News — and has been since he joined as a full-time host in 2016.
In a statement, the network announced his absolutely stunning departure, which Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner said on-air was mutual.
“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways,” the network said in a very, very succinct statement.
The statement concluded, “We want to thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Carlson’s final show was last Friday.
The separation comes on the heels of Fox’s decision to settle a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems and days after the network and Dan Bongino also broke up.
There will be plenty of time for speculation as to what caused Fox and one of its biggest stars to go their separate ways.
But the news is big.
The news was so big in the moments after the announcement that it ate away at the market cap of Fox News’s parent company.
The stock opened up Monday morning trading at a high of $31.00 per share.
At 11:50 a.m. ET, the stock had fallen to $29.30 — or about 5.4 percent.
Fox News stock drops nearly 5% within minutes of announcing Tucker Carlson’s departure pic.twitter.com/d5MQ60ET5D
— VRosen (@vrosen11) April 24, 2023
An hour later, the Fox Corporation’s stock had steadied a bit but was still down more than four percent.
It is probably not a stretch to assume the market’s reaction to the news might be an indicator of what is coming for cable’s most-watched channel.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” usually averaged around three million viewers per night and a whole lot more depending on who Carlson was able to land an interview with.
The network will now be without his daring commentary and willingness to go places most of his peers would not.
Hosts Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters and Laura Ingraham each enjoy healthy ratings — especially relative to their respective competition across the cable news landscape.
But no one drew in viewers like Carlson.
Only time will tell if Fox News is prepared to weather the storm of his departure.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.