Last updated: November 6, 2026
Photo: Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Anthony Wood is the founder of Roku, the streaming platform Fox Corp. bought in a deal valued at about $22 billion that closed on Friday, Nov. 6, 2026 — well ahead of the 2027 date the companies had expected. Wood, who had run Roku as CEO since starting it in 2002, joins Fox’s board of directors and becomes co-chair of Fox Digital Platforms, a new division that includes Roku, Tubi, Fox One and Red Seat Ventures, alongside co-chair and CEO Paul Cheesbrough, Variety reported. Mustafa Ozgen, previously Roku’s president of devices, products and technology, takes over as Roku’s CEO. “We started Roku more than two decades ago to give people a better way to watch TV, and that mission doesn’t change today,” Wood said. “What does change is our reach and resources.”
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Quick facts
Name: Anthony J. Wood
Born: Dec. 4, 1965, England (age 60)
Job: Fox Corp. board member; co-chair, Fox Digital Platforms (from Nov. 6, 2026)
Known for: Founding Roku (2002) and ReplayTV (1997)
Previous role: Founder, chairman and CEO of Roku, 2002–2026
Education: Bachelor’s in electrical engineering, Texas A&M University
Roku’s sale price: $160 a share — $96 in cash plus 0.9693 Fox Class A shares — about $22 billion in enterprise value
Roku’s reach: More than 100 million households
Net worth: About $3.5 billion (Forbes real-time estimate, Nov. 6, 2026)
Family: Married to Susan Wood, whom he met at Texas A&M; three children
Philanthropy: Co-founder, with Susan, of the WoodNext Foundation (2021)
Who is Anthony Wood?
Wood was born in England and grew up in Manchester before his family moved to Georgia, then to the Netherlands when he was 13, and later to Texas. He was building things early: in April 1984, as a teenager, he published a game called “Lunar Lander” in Ahoy!, a computer magazine.
At Texas A&M, where he studied electrical engineering and met his wife, Susan, he started his first companies — AW Software, which sold computer programs, and SunRize Industries, which made software and hardware for the Amiga. In 1995 he launched iBand, which Macromedia bought for $36 million, and he became Macromedia’s vice president of Internet authoring.
He left in 1997 to start ReplayTV, one of the first digital video recorders. He has said he was frustrated about missing episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. ReplayTV let viewers pause and rewind live TV and skip commercials. He sold it to SONICblue in 2001 for about $42 million.
In 2002 he founded his sixth company and named it Roku — Japanese for “six.”
The Netflix detour
Roku spent its first years making products “around the edges,” Wood told Variety in 2017: streaming audio players and digital signage. The breakthrough came through Netflix. After meeting Reed Hastings at a conference, Wood pressed him for months to let Roku build a Netflix streaming box, CNBC reported. Hastings wanted to build it in-house, so in 2007 Wood took a job at Netflix as vice president of Internet TV, reporting to Hastings, while staying on as Roku’s CEO.
The arrangement lasted about nine months. Hastings decided Netflix needed to be on every device — Xbox, PlayStation, Apple TV — and that owning hardware would scare off those partners. So in 2008 Netflix spun the project out to Roku: an unfinished device, patents, 20 to 30 Netflix employees and some cash, in exchange for about 15% of Roku. “Frankly, we didn’t think Roku had much of a chance,” Hastings told CNBC.
Roku shipped the first Netflix player in 2008. At launch Netflix was 100% of the hours streamed on Roku; within a decade it was one channel among thousands.
Career timeline
Dec. 4, 1965: Born in England.
April 1984: Publishes “Lunar Lander” in Ahoy! magazine.
College years: Founds AW Software and SunRize Industries.
1995: Launches iBand; Macromedia buys it for $36 million.
September 1997: Leaves Macromedia to start ReplayTV.
2001: Sells ReplayTV to SONICblue for about $42 million.
October 2002: Forms Roku.
2007: Joins Netflix as VP of Internet TV while remaining Roku CEO.
2008: Netflix spins its streaming-box team out to Roku; Roku ships the first Netflix player.
Sept. 28, 2017: Roku goes public on the Nasdaq at $14 a share.
2021: He and Susan create the WoodNext Foundation with $48.2 million.
June 15, 2026: Fox agrees to buy Roku for $160 a share, about $22 billion.
Oct. 14, 2026: Shareholders of both companies approve the deal.
Nov. 6, 2026: Deal closes; Wood joins Fox’s board and becomes co-chair of Fox Digital Platforms.
Building Roku
From boxes to an operating system: Roku started by selling hardware, then licensed its software to TV makers and made money from ads and distribution. In his 2017 IPO letter, Wood argued that TVs would run “a purpose-built operating system optimized for streaming,” just as phones didn’t run PC software.
The neutral gatekeeper: Roku’s value came from carrying everyone — Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, HBO Max — on more than 100 million households’ screens. Fox has pledged to keep Roku “a leading open ecosystem,” meaning it won’t automatically favor Fox News or Fox One.
The business Fox bought: In the first nine months of 2026, Roku’s revenue grew 23% to $4.1 billion, about 49% from advertising and 40% from subscriptions. Third-quarter net income was $183 million, Variety reported.
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What he’s known for
Serial founding: Roku was his sixth startup, and he named it that way.
Patience: He spent six years making side products before Roku found its business, and 24 years running it before selling.
Building for the viewer: His DVR skipped ads; his streaming boxes let people leave cable. “Our teams will keep building and innovating as they always have,” he said at the Fox close.
In the news
Nov. 6, 2026: Fox closed its roughly $22 billion acquisition of Roku months early. Wood joins Fox’s board and co-chairs Fox Digital Platforms with Paul Cheesbrough. Mustafa Ozgen becomes Roku CEO. Charlie Collier, president of Roku Media, and Tubi CEO Anjali Sud are leaving the merged company, according to a Cheesbrough memo obtained by Variety. Fox expects about $400 million in annual cost savings within two years.
June 15, 2026: Fox and Roku announced the deal. Roku holders get $96 in cash and 0.9693 Fox Class A shares per share; Roku shareholders end up with about 27% of the combined company. Reuters reported Wood stood to make about $3 billion from the sale.
Politics and philanthropy
WoodNext Foundation: Created in 2021 with $48.2 million. It funds mental health, homelessness, biomedical research, disaster recovery and economic opportunity. Grants include $14.3 million to the University of Pittsburgh for heart disease and dementia research (2023). Wood made $71 million in charitable commitments in 2022 and appeared on the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of America’s 50 biggest donors.
Political giving: Federal Election Commission records show Wood gave $1 million to the super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority in March 2025, $100,000 to the school-choice super PAC AFC Victory Fund in October 2024, and $200,000 to Take Back the House 2022.
Net worth & money
Forbes’s real-time tracker put Wood’s net worth at about $3.5 billion on Nov. 6, 2026. When the deal was announced in June, Forbes estimated $3.2 billion and Reuters reported he stood to make about $3 billion from the sale. Much of his wealth came from Roku stock; the final cash-and-stock split of his payout has not been disclosed.
FAQ
Who is Anthony Wood?
He is the founder of Roku. He ran it from 2002 until Fox bought it on Nov. 6, 2026, and now sits on Fox’s board and co-chairs its Fox Digital Platforms division.
Is Anthony Wood still the CEO of Roku?
No. With the Fox deal closed, Mustafa Ozgen is Roku’s CEO. Wood is co-chair of Fox Digital Platforms, which includes Roku.
How much did Fox pay for Roku?
$160 a share — $96 in cash plus 0.9693 Fox Class A shares — valuing Roku at about $22 billion.
What does “Roku” mean?
“Six” in Japanese. It was Wood’s sixth company.
How old is Anthony Wood?
He was born Dec. 4, 1965, so he is 60.
What is Anthony Wood’s net worth?
About $3.5 billion, according to Forbes’s real-time estimate on Nov. 6, 2026.
Further reading
Fox Closes $22 Billion Roku Takeover — Variety
Fox Corporation to Acquire Roku, Inc. — Fox Corp.
How Roku used the Netflix playbook to rule streaming video — CNBC
Anthony Wood — Wikipedia (background; cross-check)
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