Tucker Carlson is looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a new media company anchored on Twitter, a new report claims.
The former Fox News anchor is teaming up with ex-White House adviser Neil Patel and plan to anchor the new venture around extended versions of his Twitter shows, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Under the proposal, viewers could watch short clips of Carlson’s shows for free and would then need to subscribe to watch the full version, according to the Journal.
Carlson was pushed out by Fox Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch in the wake of the $787.5m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over the spread of 2020 election lies.
After launching a new show on Twitter, he became embroiled in a bitter dispute with Fox who alleged he had broken the terms of his $25m annual contract.
Carlson and Mr Patel founded the right-wing Daily Caller news site in 2010, and have reportedly lined up a team of lawyers, financiers and media strategists for the new company, the Journal reports.
The media company would reportedly have its own website and mobile app, and would look to expand on other social media sites beyond Twitter.
The venture could complicate Twitter’s efforts to coax advertisers back on to the platform, who fled after Elon Musk’s chaotic $44bn takeover led to a surge in hate speech.
Tucker Carlson is raising millions to launch a new media company— (Twitter)
The Musk-owned social media platform this week began paying high-profile content creators to post on the site as part of his strategy to encourage media personalities to migrate to Twitter.
Andrew Tate, who is facing rape and human trafficking allegations in Romania, said he had received a payment of $20,000 from Twitter.
According to the Journal, Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino recently met with Carlson’s longtime producer Justin Wells.
Carlon is yet to comment publicly on the new company. But a spokesperson for Carlson told the Journal he was unlikely to broadcast the show on YouTube due to censorship concerns.
Carlson has been at the centre of a wave of litigation aimed at Fox News in recent months.
His top rating 8pm primetime show repeatedly spread conspiracies about the 2020 election, and January 6 riots, which became the focus of defamation lawsuits by Dominion and Smartmatic voting machine companies.
Lat month, former Tucker Carlson Tonight producer Abby Grossberg received a $12m settlement from Fox over claims of a culture of misogyny at the network.
