Fox News Will Thrive Even Without An O'Reilly Factor, Analyst Says

The booting of Bill O’Reilly over sexual harassment allegations won’t have “any meaningful impact” on Twenty-First Century Fox Inc FOXA, Pivotal Research Group said, rating the broadcaster a Buy.

“Because viewing of news-related programming is growing fast enough to more than compensate for O’Reilly’s departure, we think domestic ad revenues at Fox are likely to fare better than we previously forecast,” the equities research firm said.

Pivotal Research Group raised the target prices up a dollar to $37. Shares were trading just shy of $30 on Thursday morning.

The storm broke on Saturday, when the New York Times reported five women had received payments coming of roughly $13 million in exchange for agreeing not to pursue sue or speak about allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior by O’Reilly.

Fox announced the host of “The O’Reilly Factor” was being let go on Wednesday. Later that evening, the ran under the new name “The Factor.”

“We want to address a situation many of you may already be aware of. Bill O’Reilly, who hosted this program for 20 years, is leaving the Fox News Channel,” fill-in host Dana Perino said.

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Killing Bill: O’Reilly Done At Fox News Just How Much Money Did Bill O'Reilly's Show Make? This Analyst's Estimate Might Surprise You ______ Image Credit: "Fox New projects itself inside the rotunda of the Iowa State Capitol. Photos from a walk around downtown Des Moines, two days before the Iowa caucuses." By Phil Roeder from Des Moines, IA, USA - Caucus Tourism: Fox Takes Over, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons