Fox Corporation's latest proxy filing shows CEO Lachlan Murdoch earned $31 million in fiscal 2026, a $2 million drop from the prior year, even as the company bets big on a merger that could reshape the streaming landscape.
Murdoch's total compensation package came in at $31.02 million, down from $33 million in fiscal 2025, The Wrap reported. The decline came despite a contract extension through 2030 that raised his target annual bonus to $9 million and his target annual equity award to $20 million. His base salary held steady at $3 million.
The pay disclosure lands as Fox prepares for one of the biggest media deals in recent memory: a $22 billion acquisition of Roku, the streaming hardware and platform company. Both sets of shareholders face a vote on October 14, and the Department of Justice has already signaled it wants a closer look.
The proxy filing broke Murdoch's compensation into six categories. The largest single piece was $11.4 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, essentially his cash bonus. Stock awards accounted for $8.68 million, and option awards added another $2.75 million.
A $3.07 million line item covered changes in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings. The remaining $2.12 million fell under "other" compensation, and the details there tell their own story.
Residential security costs ate up $1.9 million of that "other" category, by far the largest item. Personal use of company aircraft cost $170,190. A car allowance and 401(k) contributions each ran $14,400, and life insurance premiums totaled $7,722.
That security figure stands out. Nearly one in every sixteen dollars of the CEO's total pay went to protecting his home. Fox did not disclose specific reasons for the expense in the proxy, but the number dwarfs the combined total of every other perk in the package.
The compensation disclosure arrived alongside new details on Fox's planned acquisition of Roku. The $22 billion deal, if approved, would make the combined company the second-largest media distributor by viewership share in the United States, trailing only YouTube.
Fox shareholders would own 73 percent of the merged entity. Roku shareholders would hold roughly 27 percent.
Both sides face a shareholder vote on the same day. Fox Class B shareholders meet at 3 p.m. Eastern on October 14. Roku shareholders convene separately at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The merger still requires regulatory approval, and the DOJ has issued a "second request", a formal demand for additional information that typically signals antitrust regulators want to dig deeper before clearing a transaction.
Fox expects the deal to close in the first half of calendar year 2027, assuming both shareholder groups and regulators sign off.
Fox's stock closed at $58.43 on Thursday. Over the past year, shares climbed 9 percent. Over six months, they rose 10.9 percent. And over five years, the stock gained 66.5 percent, a solid run by any measure.
But the year-to-date picture is less flattering. Fox shares have fallen 11.4 percent so far this calendar year. Whether that reflects broader market headwinds, investor uncertainty about the Roku deal, or something else entirely, the proxy filing does not say.
Murdoch's contract extension, signed in June, locked in his leadership through 2030 with richer bonus targets. The $9 million annual bonus target and $20 million equity target suggest Fox's board is betting on Murdoch to steer the company through the merger and whatever comes after it.
A $31 million pay package for running a major media company will not shock anyone who follows executive compensation. The real question is whether the Roku deal, and the DOJ review that comes with it, will justify the board's confidence.
