New York City’s pension funds have sued Fox Corp., alleging the company neglected its duty to shareholders by airing false statements about the 2020 election that exposed it to defamation lawsuits.
“Fox’s board of directors has blatantly disregarded the need for journalistic standards and failed to put safeguards in place despite having a business model that invites defamation litigation,” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a statement to The Hill. Lander oversees the pension funds.
“A lack of journalistic standards and a proper strategy to mitigate defamation has clearly harmed Fox’s reputation and threatens their bottom line and long-term profitability,” he continued.
The Hill has reached out to Fox for comment.
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All I’m hearing is New York City is investing in Fox News
Pension funds put their eggs in many baskets
I’m don’t think I have any of my retirement funds in fox stock. I own so many diversified funds that I can’t say for sure though. No surprise a pension fund might have some fix stock. The unfortunate reality is you want to diversify and own a bunch of established “blue chip” type stocks and not really think about ethics…
I own mostly index funds, so I invest in fox :(
This sounds kind of screwy to me. They’re not alleging that the company is wasting money to pursue a political agenda but wasting money to avoid disappointing their audience. That seems like a business decision that could be justified (even if it’s monumentally stupid).
They’re basically saying Fox News is failing their fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. You know, the part that most companies use as a blank check to maximize profit at the expense of everything else. The part that’s the basis of a public company.
Yeah, definitely sounds like an insane long shot. Stock prices haven’t changed much for it, so I can’t see that they have standing.
Fox paid out almost a BILLION DOLLARS in a settlement about their lies. That’s money that comes right off per share income and ultimately against dividends. Stock price is not not only, and often not the greatest, way that holders benefit from owning a share. Dividends are important, think income vs growth stocks.
Absolutely, but the point is that they need to prove some core damage beyond the standard risks of investing. Many companies do absolutely ridiculous things, and lawsuits sometimes arise from that, but I haven’t seen a ton that were successful. Maybe I just haven’t noticed them.
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be sued (and that they shouldn’t win), just that it’s hard to see the US justice system let this go anywhere.
This is ultimately a way to pressure the board into being more responsible for the truthfulness of the “news” channel. I think it’s a very good thing. I hope it leads to an ouster of the entire board. It’s unlikely, but I’m hopeful.
