Fox is buying consumer finance service Credible for $265 million to further boost interaction and engagement across its digital platforms for brands including Fox Business and Fox Television Stations.
Fox will acquire 67% of the equity in Credible Labs, and is committing another $75 million of growth capital to Credible over approximately two years. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
Credible is a service that allows consumers to compare rates from multiple financial institutions across student loans, personal loans and mortgages.
“The acquisition of Credible underscores Fox Corporation’s innovative digital strategy that emphasizes direct interactions with our consumers to provide services they want and expand their engagement with us across platforms. Credible, which has tremendous synergy with core brands such as Fox Business and Fox Television Stations, and will benefit from our audience reach and scale, will drive strategic growth, further develop our brand verticals and deepen consumer relationships,” said Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch in a statement.
RELATED: Fox Bet places big wager on legal sports betting in the U.S.
Credible Founder and CEO Stephen Dash is staying on as chief executive.
“Fox Corporation’s record of innovation and focus on audience engagement will further enhance Credible’s position as a leading consumer finance marketplace in the United States, creating opportunities for organic growth and the expansion of the Credible platform,” said Dash in a statement.
While competitors, including NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia, are planning splashy new services for the U.S. streaming video market, Fox has taken a tack focused on building more engagement into its digital platforms including video services. Paul Cheesbrough, chief technology officer and head of direct-to-consumer streaming platforms at Fox, even joked on Twitter that consumers are probably relieved the news isn’t another new streaming video service.
And how happy are consumers that this isn’t another announcement of an SVOD service from a media company 😉
— Paul Cheesbrough (@paulcheesbrough) August 4, 2019
Earlier this year Fox made another acquisition intended to capitalize on legal sports betting in the U.S. Fox is partnering with the Stars Group, and will be using that company's existing technology to launch two Fox Bet products in fall 2019. The official Fox Bet product will let users in states with legal betting place real wagers on different sporting events.
In addition to the companies’ new 25-year commercial agreement, Fox bought a 5% ownership stake in Stars Group for approximately $236 million.