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☆ How Dominion’s Owner Turned a $38 Million Investment Into a Windfall Settlement With Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Sarah Krouse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Mark Makela/ReutersWhen Staple Street Capital invested in Dominion Voting Systems in 2018, the New York private-equity firm foresaw potential risks if the company’s voting machines malfunctioned. It didn’t imagine Dominion would be falsely accused of helping to rig a presidential election. Dominion this week reached a $787.5 million settlement in its defamation suit against Fox News parent Fox Corp. over the network’s 2020 broadcasts that amplified false election-fraud charges. The settlement is a windfall for Staple Street, which paid $38 million for a 76% stake in the business through two private-equity funds.

☆ Lachlan Murdoch drops defamation lawsuit against Australian news website
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 21 (Reuters) - Fox Corp (FOXA.O) CEO Lachlan Murdoch dropped a defamation lawsuit against an Australian news site over an opinion piece he said accused him of complicity in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying the defendant was trying to generate publicity. A lawyer for Private Media, Michael Bradley, said Murdoch had discontinued his Federal Court claim without warning and that Murdoch would pay Private Media's costs. "It's complete vindication of their stand on the principle of press freedom," Bradley said in an email, referring to Crikey and its employees. Fox and its top-rated cable channel Fox News on April 18 settled a defamation lawsuit by ballot machine operator Dominion Voting Systems, on what was to be the first day of a trial where Lachlan's father, Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch, had been expected to testify. In the Australian lawsuit, which was scheduled to go to trial in October, Lachlan Murdoch had accused Private Media and four employees of damaging his reputation in a June 29, 2022, opinion piece that described the Murdochs as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the effort by Trump supporters to overturn his election loss.

Private equity firm Staple Street Capital valued Dominion at $80 million when it purchased a controlling stake in it in 2018. The Fox settlement was nearly 10 times that amount and far outstripped the $226 million average of four pre-election valuations cited in Fox's court papers. Dominion's damages claim in the Fox case was based upon a report it commissioned from an accounting expert, half of which remains under seal. It is difficult to place a dollar value on the U.S. voting-machine industry because Dominion and its competitors all are privately held. While Dominion's report cites dozens of lost clients due to Fox's coverage, the company still has landed recent contract renewals including in California's Republican-majority Kern County.

[1/3] Dominion lawyers embrace after Dominion Voting Systems and Fox settled the defamation lawsuit over Fox's coverage of debunked election-rigging claims, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., April 18, 2023. At least 31 lawyers from nine different law firms worked on the case, court filings show. It was not immediately clear how large a share of the settlement the firm would receive in legal fees. The filings do not include recent costs associated with preparing for trial or the success fees lawyers could earn from the settlement. Fox News also hired Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, top appeals court lawyers who have advocated for conservative causes at the U.S. Supreme Court.

NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - The co-head of the private equity firm that owns Dominion Voting Systems said the company's $787.5 million settlement with Fox Corp (FOXA.O) held Fox accountable for spreading lies even if it did not apologize or admit wrongdoing. The settlement came with no apology or admission of wrongdoing on behalf of Fox, just an acknowledgement of the court's rulings finding some claims about Dominion to be false. Dominion and Staple Street achieved their goals by exposing the truth and Fox News' "offensive" actions and getting the media company to pay for them, Yaghoobzadeh said. In a statement following Tuesday's settlement, Fox said it was committed to the highest journalistic standards. Dominion funded the litigation through its own resources, without Staple Street or a third party providing financial backing, Yaghoobzadeh said.

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - Mike Lindell, a prominent ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, has been ordered to pay $5 million to a man who debunked Lindell's false claims of election fraud, the plaintiff's law firm said on Thursday. An arbitration panel ordered Lindell, the founder of pillow manufacturer My Pillow and a well-known election conspiracy theorist, to pay cyber expert Robert Zeidman after he won a contest Lindell hosted in Nevada in July 2021. "Lindell's claim to have 2020 election data has been definitively disproved." A significant portion of self-identified conservatives in the U.S. continue to falsely believe that the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost, was marred by widespread fraud. In 2021, Dominion Voting Systems, which just reached a $787.5 million settlement with Fox Corp and Fox News, sued Lindell for damages related to his vote-rigging claims.

☆ Fox has more headaches coming after agreeing to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion's defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After shelling out $787.5 billion to settle Dominion's lawsuit, Fox has more troubles on the way. Atop the list is a separate lawsuit from Smartmatic, another election technology company that sued Fox News Network and its parent company, Fox Corp., in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit asks for $2.7 billion in damages and was filed against Fox Corp.; Fox News Network; hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs; and Powell and Giuliani. Aside from the Smartmatic case, Fox News has to deal with potential shareholder lawsuits. The overall value of Fox Corp. — which also includes Fox Sports and the streaming service Tubi — is more than $17.6 billion.

☆ Lachlan Murdoch drops defamation suit against Australian outlet Crikey in wake of massive Dominion settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

We won.”The legal dispute centers on a 2022 Crikey story that carried the headline, “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator.”After the article was published, Murdoch demanded the story be removed and the outlet apologize. Murdoch followed through on the dare, filing a lawsuit against Crikey publisher Private Media. Crikey and Private Media said throughout the legal process that they would defend themselves and were confident in their case. Not only would he have been ensnared in another high-profile defamation case, his camp would have had to make effectively the opposite arguments it has made in the United States in regard to defamation law.

☆ Fox Has Settled One Voting Machine Company’s Defamation Case. Another Looms.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Erin Mulvaney | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Mark Makela/ReutersFox Corp.’s decision to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation dispute with Dominion Voting Systems gave voting-machine company Smartmatic USA Corp. a potential blueprint for its own case against the conservative media empire, legal experts say. Just like Dominion, Smartmatic is accusing Fox’s news networks of airing defamatory comments about its products in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, including that the voting-machine company helped rig the outcome in favor of Joe Biden. The $2.7 billion lawsuit is pending in New York state court.

April 19 (Reuters) - Fox News on Tuesday disposed of one legal threat with its $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, but the network still faces a $2.7 billion lawsuit from another voting technology company, Smartmatic USA, over its coverage of debunked election-rigging claims. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File PhotoSmartmatic is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from Fox and five individuals, including former Trump lawyers and hosts. 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 News says little on air about its $787.5 million settlement with Dominion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Helen Coster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, who had been expected to testify in the Dominion trial, did not reference the settlement, the largest struck by an American media company, during their primetime broadcasts on Tuesday night. Fox News is owned by Fox Corp (FOXA.O) and is the most-watched U.S. cable news network. Howard Kurtz, the host of Fox News' MediaBuzz show, appeared on Cavuto's show and during "Special Report with Bret Baier." On "Special Report" Kurtz read the Fox statement, but did not include the dollar figure of the settlement. In response to a Reuters request for comment about Fox's coverage of the settlement, a spokesperson shared the company's statement about the Dominion settlement that aired on Cavuto and Baier's shows.

"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. Fox anchor Neil Cavuto broke into his news show "Your World" about 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to report the settlement. In February court filings, Dominion cited a trove of internal communications in which Murdoch and other Fox figures privately acknowledged that the vote-rigging claims made about Dominion on-air were false. Dominion said Fox amplified the untrue claims to boost its ratings and prevent its viewers from migrating to other media competitors on the right. ANOTHER LAWSUIT PENDINGAdding to the legal risks for Fox, another U.S. voting technology company, Smartmatic, is pursuing its own defamation lawsuit seeking $2.7 billion in damages in a New York state court.

The voice on the other end asked Roscoe if he would serve as an eleventh-hour mediator in the massive defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News. “I said yes,” Roscoe told CNN on Wednesday, recalling advice his father gave him at the age of 16 about accepting work assignments while on vacation. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters/Eric Lee/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesIn the lead up to the last-second deal, attorneys for both Fox News and Dominion were fully expecting a trial. Last week, Dominion had notified Fox News that one of its first witnesses would be Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old Fox Corporation chairman, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. “Presence in the courtroom often tends to crystalize the focus of the risks and benefits of litigation,” Roscoe told CNN.

☆ 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.

☆ Fox's $787 million settlement won't restore damage to US democracy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Fox News will pay $787.5 million for transmitting lies that a small voting technology firm helped steal the 2020 election. And Trump himself is facing several criminal probes related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the run-up to the January 6, 2021, insurrection. And is there any chance that Fox’s humiliation can repair some of the damage from the disastrous election aftermath in 2020? That missing moment of accountability will be important because claims that the 2020 election was corrupt are not some artifact of recent history. No single case can repair the damage of 2020The extent to which Trump’s falsehoods and conspiracy theories harmed democracy is open to debate.

CompaniesCompanies Law Firms Dominion Voting Systems Corp FollowFox Corp FollowApril 19 (Reuters) - Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox (FOXA.O), which resulted in Tuesday’s $787.5 million settlement, is part of a broader legal campaign by the company to seek accountability from companies and individuals whom it claims have spread falsehoods about its technology. The company said it stands by its coverage and will "vigorously defend" itself against Dominion's claims. TRUMP LAWYERS AND PATRICK BRYNEAlso in August 2021, Dominion sued Patrick Byrne, the former chief executive of online retailer Overstock.com Inc, saying he too spread conspiracy theories about the company's technology. Dominion also has lawsuits pending against former Trump lawyers, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, over the vote rigging claims. Each suit against the lawyers seeks at least $1.3 billion in damages.

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.

☆ 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.

☆ 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.

☆ The campaign of Donald Trump will be the issue for Fox going forward, says Gamesquare's Tom Rogers
▼ + 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 EmailThe campaign of Donald Trump will be the issue for Fox going forward, says Gamesquare's Tom RogersTom Rogers, Gamesquare executive chairman, and Barton Crockett, Rosenblatt Securities senior analyst, join 'Squawk Box' to discuss the fallout from Fox Corp's defamation lawsuit settlement with Dominion.

☆ Defamation suit settlement will hold Fox accountable for election claims, Dominion negotiator says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The last-minute $787.5 million settlement of the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp. was a major step toward making Fox News answer for false claims that Dominion's machines influenced the 2020 election, a key negotiator of the deal said Wednesday. Yaghoobzadeh was one of the people who cut the settlement deal. He declined to disclose when Fox had made its first offer, saying only that the initial sum "was not enough." CNBC previously reported that anchors will not have to acknowledge the settlement or apologize on air, according to people familiar with the matter. The massive settlement sum will go to legal fees and taxes first, Yaghoobzadeh said.

☆ 16 takeaways from Fox News' historic $787.5 million settlement with Dominion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

In the moments after I watched the judge announce the settlement in court, 16 things went through my mind:1. Evidence obtained by Dominion in the lawsuit and filed to court ahead of the settlement appeared to support that theory. There's always the Smartmatic case. In court filings ahead of the settlement, Fox complained about the $1.6 billion price tag Dominion put on the lawsuit. "Would be pretty unreal if you guys like 20x'ed your Dominion investment with these lawsuits," read one text to a Staple Street executive cited in a Fox court filing.

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.

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