Fox’s Tubi Accused in Lawsuit of Paying Women Less Than Men

Fox Corp.’s streaming platform Tubi was accused in a gender-discrimination lawsuit of paying top female executives 28% less than their male counterparts and offering them fewer promotions.

Sarah Ekstrom, Tubi’s former chief people officer, said in a proposed class-action suit that Tubi eliminated her position and fired her four months after she raised concerns about the company’s treatment of women.

Fox bought the San Francisco-based company in 2020 after selling its film and TV studios to Walt Disney Co. Ekstrom, who was hired in February 2022, soon began to hear complaints from female colleagues about their treatment and compensation, according to her suit.

Aside from being paid less, women executives complained that male executives were often dismissive and rude to them, accord to the suit.

“Tubi is a streaming solution built in the Fox model — a poisonous corporate culture of misogyny that profits at the expense of its female employees,” Ekstrom’s lawyers wrote in the complaint.

Tubi said it won’t discuss specifics of the pending case, but will “vigorously defend” the company against the claims it called “meritless.”

Fox has been hit with a long string of sex discrimination and harassment suits, from a 2017 case against the late Roger Ailes, who was then chairman of the Fox News Channel, to a March complaint by a producer of Tucker Carlson’s former show.

Ekstrom said that as head of the personnel department, she came to see the pay disparity for women at Tubi was systematic. Top “C-Suite” female executives were paid the same as male colleagues who ranked below them on the organization chart, according to the suit.

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The case is Ekstrom v. Fox Corporation, CGC23606599, California Superior Court (San Francisco).

Photo: Photographer: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg