Roku Stock Jumps 20% on Sale Talks With Media Buyer

Roku stock jumped 20% on Friday after late-day reports said the company is exploring a sale and has held talks with at least one media company as a potential buyer. Most of the move came in the last hour and change, the kind of burst that can reset how investors price the next step.

That rally matters because Roku had already climbed 87% over the past year and was roughly 50% higher before Friday’s pop. A takeover bid would need to clear a stock that has already moved hard, while the company’s growing audience of more than 100 million homes gives any buyer a larger platform to justify the price.

Evercore lifts Roku to $185

Earlier on Friday, Evercore ISI raised its price target on Roku shares from $160 to $185, a move that set a higher bar before the sale report hit late in the trading day. The timing left traders with two separate signals: a higher valuation target and a possible change in ownership.

Roku also posted 22% year-over-year growth in its latest quarter, its strongest top-line growth in four years. The company delivered 27% growth in ad revenue in the first quarter and a 30% uptick in its subscriptions business, figures that suggest buyers would be evaluating a business still posting double-digit expansion.

Amazon deal, then sale talks

Last year, Roku struck an ad deal with Amazon, and that set up a company that has been willing to work with larger platform partners rather than stay isolated. The reported sale discussions now put that strategy under a different lens: not just partnership, but possible ownership.

Roku is six weeks away from its next quarterly update, and the stock’s 29% move on Friday came with most of the buying in the last hour and change. If the talks deepen, the question for shareholders is whether the premium, if one comes, is large enough to offset a share price that had already rerated sharply before the report.