DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ With historic settlement, Rupert Murdoch is paying the price for Trump’s election lies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The country suffered the consequences of Donald Trump’s election lies on January 6th. And Rupert Murdoch suffered the consequences of those same lies on April 18. But while it is the largest publicly known defamation settlement by a U.S. media outlet ever, the hefty price tag won’t be enough to change Fox News at its core. In some ways it is fitting that the statement Fox News issued as a result of its dishonest conduct was dishonest in and of itself. Outside the embarrassment Fox News would have suffered, the settlement also spared the company and its executives of being bound by the laws of reality during trial.

☆ The investor behind Dominion Voting Systems just bagged a 1,400% return after Fox News settled its defamation suit for $788 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday settled a defamation lawsuit with Fox News for $787.5 million. Staple Street Capital purchased a 76% stake in the voting technology company in 2018 for $38.8 million. Dominion initially sought $1.6 billion in damages from Fox News, but settled for about half that amount. The potential gain for Staple Street from the Dominion/Fox News lawsuit was on the radar of employees at the investment firm. For us this case has always been about exposing the truth and holding those who knowingly spread lies accountable," Staple Street co-founder Hootan Yaghoobzadeh said at a Tuesday press conference.

☆ Stephen Colbert Rues the Fox Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Trish Bendix | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. Trial and ErrorDominion Voting Systems settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Tuesday, with the conservative news network agreeing to pay $787.5 million to avoid a trial. “I want my trial!” Stephen Colbert bemoaned on Tuesday.

☆ 'We feel good' keeping Fox accountable and exposing the truth: Staple Street Capital's Yaghoobzadeh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email'We feel good' keeping Fox accountable and exposing the truth: Staple Street Capital's YaghoobzadehHootan Yaghoobzadeh, co-founder of Staple Street Capital, the private equity firm that owns Dominion Voting Systems, joins CNBC's Eamon Javers on 'Squawk Box' to discuss Fox's $787.5 million settlement with the company and what it plans to do with the money.

☆ Who won the Fox-Dominion case? Lawyers and an obscure private-equity fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That remains true in the case of Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, which averted a trial with an 11th-hour deal Tuesday. Money aside, Fox had to acknowledge the court’s ruling that “certain claims about Dominion” that Fox perpetuated on-air were in fact false. The Neutral-to-Positive Winner: Dominion Voting SystemsFor more than two years, Dominion spent untold amounts of money building a defamation case against one of the most popular TV networks on the planet. Davida Brook, left, Justin Nelson, second from left, and Stephen Shackelford, attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems, exit the New Castle County Courthouse in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday. But for a company that’s valued somewhere between $30 million and $80 million, it’s quite a deal.

☆ Morning Bid: Crowded bonds unnerved
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

This has some wondering if the recent dash for cash and top-rated bonds has become a bit crowded and how much more tightening central banks have to do. As we move into the weeds of the first-quarter U.S. earnings season, it's been a mixed bag so far. That clearly unnerved UK government bonds - where 10 year yields jumped 10bps - but it also jarred sovereign bonds around the world. Elsewhere, further signs of healing were evident in the global bank funding market. Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.T) sold $1 billion of additional tier-1 debt, the first major global bank to sell the risky securities since similar bonds issued by Credit Suisse were wiped out last month.

☆ Judge privately said Fox News spokesperson should 'be nicer' after she 'ratted on other people' about courtroom conduct in Dominion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The judge in the Dominion v. Fox lawsuit criticized a Fox News spokesperson in a private conversation. He said she should "be nicer to people" after saying she "ratted on" others for tweeting in court, which is forbidden. She had taken photos of the courtroom on her phone, before the judge or any prospective jurors arrived. After leaving the main courtroom, Cronin went into the overflow room. After hours of waiting and what the transcript refers to as a brief "sidebar discussion held off the record," the judge announced Fox and Dominion had reached a settlement.

☆ Fox faces similar defamation case from Smartmatic after Dominion settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Fox Corp. and its TV networks agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit this week, but the media giant's legal headaches don't end there. Still hanging in the balance is voting software company Smartmatic USA's defamation case, which is seeking $2.7 billion in damages – over $1 billion more than Dominion initially sought in its lawsuit. Smartmatic, like Dominion, filed its defamation lawsuit against Fox for spreading false claims that its voting software helped rig the 2020 election that saw Joe Biden triumph over Donald Trump. Although Smartmatic's lawsuit was filed shortly ahead of Dominion's in 2021, the pace of the case has lagged in comparison. It remains unclear how or whether the settlement between Fox and Dominion will affect Smartmatic's case.

☆ Dominion isn’t Rupert Murdoch’s costliest legal defeat. Not even close
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

But for now, the price tag attached to the Dominion case isn’t the worst Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch has had to stomach. A phone hacking scandal involving Murdoch’s tabloid newspaper empire in the United Kingdom has proven much more costly over the past decade or so. It looked at legal fees and damages, as well as expenses tied to the subsequent restructuring of Murdoch’s UK media empire. The last big Murdoch legal fightThe editor of Murdoch’s News of the World and a private investigator were convicted of conspiracy to hack the voicemails of British royals in 2007. Britain’s Prince Harry and actor Hugh Grant are among those who have filed legal challenges against The Sun tied to phone hacking.

Fox agreed to a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday. But a senior media executive told Insider that insurance typically handles these types of payments. Fox Corp. had nearly $4.1 billion of cash on hand, according to comments made in February by company CEO Lachlan Murdoch. Fox Corp., which also owns assets such as the broadcast network and streamer Tubi, has a market capitalization of $17.61 billion as of Tuesday. In 2017, Fox also agreed to a $90 million "derivatives" settlement against company officers over sexual harassment issues at Fox News, according to Reuters.

Dominion accused Fox and its parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) of ruining its business by airing claims that its machines were used to rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden and against then-president Donald Trump, a Republican. Smartmatic alleges in its lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court that the defendants knowingly spread false claims that its software was used to flip votes. Conspiracy theorists erroneously claimed Smartmatic owned Dominion, and the companies mounted similar allegations in their lawsuits. Fox denies the allegations, saying in a recent statement the network had a right to report on highly newsworthy allegations of voter fraud. Fox has said the allegations are “baseless” and were immediately investigated by outside lawyers.

Even before Tuesday's settlement, Staple Street's investment in Dominion had paid off handsomely. Yaghoobzadeh told reporters on Tuesday that Staple Street backed Dominion in its mission to shoot down lies against it. Staple Street investor Mark Hauser, managing partner of Hauser Private Equity, also welcomed the settlement news. "We are very pleased with the outcome and think that Staple Street has handled the situation very well on behalf of their investors. We’ve had a relationship with Staple Street since 2014 and think highly of their management team," he said.

"Fox has admitted to telling lies about Dominion that caused enormous damage to my company, our employees and our customers," Poulos said in a statement. Shares of Fox Corp closed up slightly at $34 per share, but were down 1% in after-hours trading after the settlement amount was disclosed. Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch told Wall Street analysts in February that the company had about $4 billion cash on hand. [1/5] Dominion CEO John Poulos and lawyers speak to the media after Dominion Voting Systems and Fox settled a defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million, avoiding trial, over Fox's coverage of debunked election-rigging claims, in Delaware Superior Court, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. April 18, 2023. Fox Corp reported nearly $14 billion in annual revenue last year.

Members of the public wait to enter the Leonard Williams Justice Center where the Dominion Voting Systems defamation trial against FOX News is taking place on April 18 in Wilmington, Delaware. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)The court is back in session after a lunch break and opening statements are expected to begin soon in the historic defamation lawsuit brought by election technology company Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News. Here’s what you need to know about the high-stakes case:Why is Dominion suing Fox News? The company alleges that people at Fox News acted with actual malice and "recklessly disregarded the truth" when they spread this disinformation about Dominion. According to Dominion’s theory of the case, Fox promoted these election conspiracy theories because "the lies were good for Fox’s business."

☆ Fox News-Dominion Defamation Trial Set to Begin
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WILMINGTON, Del.— A jury here is scheduled to hear opening statements on Dominion Voting Systems’ allegations that it was defamed by Fox News after the 2020 presidential election, following a one-day trial delay and settlement efforts by Fox that haven’t produced an agreement. After jurors are seated for the case, they are set to begin considering whether Fox News and Fox Business defamed Dominion in a series of broadcasts in which associates of then-President Donald Trump claimed the voting-machine company helped rig the election for Joe Biden. Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages, saying it lost contracts after the broadcasts and has faced other business harms.

☆ Fox to Pay $787.5 Million to Settle Dominion’s Defamation Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | Joe Flint | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WILMINGTON, Del.— Fox News parent Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle its closely watched legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems, averting a trial on the voting-machine company’s allegations that it was defamed by network broadcasts after the 2020 presidential election. Dominion alleged that Fox hosts and guests amplified false claims that its voting technology helped rig the election for Joe Biden. The company sought $1.6 billion in damages. Fox argued that it was covering newsworthy claims by associates of then-President Donald Trump and that its broadcasts should be protected by the First Amendment.

☆ Fox to Pay $787 Million to Settle Dominion’s Defamation Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | Joe Flint | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WILMINGTON, Del.— Fox News parent Fox Corp. agreed to pay $787 million to settle its closely watched legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems, averting a trial on the voting-machine company’s allegations that it was defamed by network broadcasts after the 2020 presidential election. Dominion alleged that Fox hosts and guests amplified false claims that its voting technology helped rig the election for Joe Biden. The company sought $1.6 billion in damages. Fox argued that it was covering newsworthy claims by associates of then-President Donald Trump and that its broadcasts should be protected by the First Amendment.

☆ A $787.5 Million Settlement and Embarrassing Disclosures: The Costs of Airing a Lie
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jim Rutenberg | Katie Robertson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In settling with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News has avoided an excruciating, drawn-out trial in which its founding chief, Rupert Murdoch, its top managers and its biggest stars would have had to face hostile grilling on an embarrassing question: Why did they allow a virulent and defamatory conspiracy theory about the 2020 election to spread across the network when so many of them knew it to be false? But the $787.5 million settlement agreement — among the largest defamation settlements in history — and Fox’s courthouse statement recognizing that the court had found “certain claims about Dominion” aired on its programming “to be false” — at the very least amount to a rare, high-profile acknowledgment of informational wrongdoing by a powerhouse in conservative media and America’s most popular cable network. “Money is accountability,” Stephen Shackelford, a Dominion lawyer, said outside the courthouse, “and we got that today from Fox.”The terms of the agreement, which was abruptly announced just before lawyers were expected to make opening statements, did not require Fox to apologize for any wrongdoing in its own programming — a point that Dominion was said to have been pressing for.

☆ Fox News’s settlement in the Dominion case is big news, except on Fox News.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Stuart A. Thompson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fox News’s last-minute settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday earned banner coverage on every television news network but one: Fox News. The $787.5 million settlement was covered only three times by Fox News in about four hours after the settlement became public, amounting to about six minutes of coverage. Anderson Cooper, host of the prime-time show “Anderson Cooper 360,” led his program with the case and also interviewed Davinda Brook, lead counsel for Dominion. Neil Cavuto, host of the afternoon news program “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on Fox News, covered the settlement as news of it broke and again after the dollar figure was announced. Howard Kurtz, Fox News’s media analyst, told Mr. Cavuto that the election fraud claims about Dominion were “obviously false” and “conspiracy theories.” In another segment, Mr. Kurtz said that “both sides had an incentive to avoid a costly six-week trial.”

A person walks past Fox News Headquarters at the News Corporation building on May 03, 2022 in New York City. - Fox Corp. and its cable networks agreed Tuesday to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over false claims that Dominion's machines swayed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The suit by Dominion, which sells voting machines and election software, had argued that Fox News and its sister network Fox Business "intentionally and falsely" blamed Dominion for the 2020 loss of former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden by airing unsubstantiated claims about the company. Fox had said in court filings that its hosts' statements about Dominion were protected by the First Amendment. The company also said Dominion had not shown that the statements were made with so-called actual malice, which is the threshold for civil defamation claims.

☆ Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity won't have to apologize on air for broadcasting false claims about Dominion as Fox News ponies up $787 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Dominion Voting Systems settled its major defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Tuesday. Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million and acknowledged that false claims were broadcast. As part of its settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox News hosts won't have to apologize on air for broadcasting false claims, a person familiar with the terms told Insider. "We acknowledge the Court's rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false," a Fox spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Fox argued it was reporting the news and that its broadcasts of Powell's and Giuliani's false claims were protected by the First Amendment.

A Fox victory — after it limped into trial amid a series of legal setbacks — would be a major triumph for the network. “In the coming weeks, we will prove Fox spread lies causing enormous damage to Dominion. We look forward to trial,” a Dominion spokesperson said in a statement on the eve of trial. Pretrial dramaThus far, Fox News has faced an uphill battle in court, as the case careened toward trial. The outcome of the trial, however, is not likely to dramatically change the dishonest way in which Fox News operates.

☆ Fox News settles with Dominion, averting defamation trial over its 2020 election lies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Wilmington, Delaware CNN —The judge just announced in court that a settlement has been reached in the historic defamation case between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems. “The parties have resolved their case,” Superior Court Judge Eric Davis said. By settling with Dominion, influential Fox News executives and prominent on-air personalities will be spared from testifying about their 2020 election coverage, which was filled with lies about voter fraud. They denied Dominion’s claim that they promoted these election conspiracies to save their falling ratings after the 2020 election. While the Dominion case is now over, Fox News is still facing a second major defamation lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting technology company that was smeared on Fox shows after the 2020 election.

☆ Fox News settles Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million over election conspiracy theories just as the trial is about to start
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Fox News settled Dominion's defamation lawsuit over election conspiracy theories for $787.5 million. WILMINGTON, Delaware — Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems's blockbuster defamation lawsuit just as it was about to go to trial, agreeing to pay it $787.5 million. In a press conference after Davis announced the settlement, Dominion CEO John Poulos criticized Fox for broadcasting lies about the company. Dominion first filed its lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., in March 2021. Representatives of Fox News arrive at the justice center for the Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in Wilmington, Delaware.

☆ What to know about Dominion's lawsuit against Fox
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsWhat to know about Dominion's lawsuit against FoxPostedThe trial of Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News is now set to begin Tuesday. Here's what you need to know about the landmark defamation case. Helen Coster and Jack Queen have more.

Search resuls for: "Voting Systems"

25 mentions found