Roku Embraces Fox, Founder's Voting Rights Locked Up

Anthony Wood, founder of the streaming‐platform operator Roku, Inc. (ROKU), and the Wood Family Trusts on June 14 entered into a voting and support agreement with Fox, effectively locking up their holdings by agreeing to vote all Class A and B common shares in favor of the merger and restricting any share sales.

Earlier, under separate Rule 10b5-1 trading plans, Roku’s head of media on June 4 and CEO Anthony Wood on June 10 each exercised stock options and sold some shares. Nonetheless, Wood continues to wield significant economic and voting influence through multiple family trusts.

On June 15, Fox officially announced a definitive merger agreement to acquire Roku in a roughly $22 billion (₩30 trillion) cash-and-stock transaction, offering Roku shareholders a combination of cash and Fox common shares per share.

With the Wood family—holders of a majority of Roku’s voting power—committed to support the merger, much of the uncertainty around the shareholder vote has been resolved, despite remaining regulatory approvals.

Roku operates a connected-TV operating system and advertising-supported streaming channels used in over 100 million U.S. households, serving as vital infrastructure in the industry’s shift to streaming.

Through this acquisition, Fox aims to merge its free streaming service Tubi with the Roku TV platform to create a large‐scale, ad-supported streaming ecosystem, marking a landmark deal in the U.S. television and streaming industry’s ongoing consolidation.