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Costs for Fox’s Harassment Settlements Rise to $50 Million

The headquarters of 21st Century Fox in Manhattan. The company continues to face harassment and discrimination suits.Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times

Twenty-First Century Fox said Monday that it had incurred about $50 million in costs during the year that ended June 30 tied to the settlement of sexual harassment and discrimination allegations in its Fox News division.

That figure, disclosed in a regulatory filing, does not include the payouts made to the men ousted amid the scandal. Roger Ailes, the network’s founding chairman, received a $40 million package when he left, and Bill O’Reilly, the former top-rated host, received a payout of about $25 million.

In the filing, the company said it had $224 million in costs during the fiscal year related to “management and employee transitions and restructuring” at several of its business units, including the cable network group that houses Fox News.

The $50 million settlement figure disclosed Monday is $5 million more than what had been reported earlier. In May, the company disclosed that in the nine months leading up to March 31, it had incurred $45 million in costs tied to litigation related to harassment allegations.

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Roger Ailes, the network’s founding chairman, received a $40 million package after his ouster.Credit...Fred Prouser/Reuters

The company has spent the past year trying to clean up the sexual harassment and discrimination scandal that has engulfed its Fox News division. Since the former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed suit last July against Mr. Ailes, the company has overhauled its management team, hired a new head of human resources, urged employees to report inappropriate behavior and conducted training sessions. In the wake of the scandal, Mr. Ailes, Mr. O’Reilly and several other employees were ousted.

Yet troubles persist. The company continues to face harassment and discrimination suits, including a class-action racial discrimination suit. In the past several weeks, Fox News suspended the longtime host Eric Bolling pending an investigation into reports that he sent inappropriate text messages to female colleagues. And the issue spread to other divisions, with the company’s sports group abruptly firing the top executive Jamie Horowitz in July amid an investigation into sexual harassment.

Mr. O’Reilly, Mr. Bolling and Mr. Horowitz have denied the allegations against them, as did Mr. Ailes, who died in May.

In Monday’s regulatory filing, the company said it had settled some claims and was contesting others, adding that “none of the amounts paid in settlements or reserved for pending or future claims” is individually or in aggregate material to the company.

Twenty-First Century Fox also reiterated an earlier disclosure that it had “received regulatory and investigative inquiries relating to these matters and stockholder demands to inspect the books and records of the company which could lead to future litigation.”

Describing the matters as being at an “early stage,” the company said that the amount of liability, if anything, could not be estimated. It added that the company does not expect the resolution to have a material adverse effect.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: Costs for Fox’s Harassment Settlements Rise to $50 Million. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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