Fox News settles Dominion defamation lawsuit for $787 million

Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly USD 800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company's lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.

The stunning settlement emerged just as opening statements were supposed to begin, abruptly ending a case that had embarrassed Fox News over several months and raised the possibility that network founder Rupert Murdoch and stars such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity would have to testify publicly.

“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced the deal.

Outside of the USD 787.5 million promised to Colorado-based Dominion, it was unclear what other consequences Fox would face. Fox acknowledged in a statement “the court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false,” but no apology was offered.

The deal is a significant amount of money even for a company the size of Fox. It represents about one-quarter of the USD 2.96 billion the company reported earning last year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation — a figure often used to approximate a company's cash flow.