Gretchen Carlson | Getty Fox settles with Gretchen Carlson over sexual harassment claims Company will pay $20 million to settle suit 
 
 21st Century Fox is settling a lawsuit brought by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, the company confirmed Tuesday morning. Terms of the settlement were not public, but Vanity Fair reported that it is for $20 million. 
 
 "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," a statement from the company said. "During her tenure at Fox News, Gretchen exhibited the highest standards of journalism and professionalism. She developed a loyal audience and was a daily source of information for many Americans. We are proud that she was part of the Fox News team. We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she & all our colleagues deserve." 
 
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 "I am gratified that 21st Century Fox took decisive action after I filed my Complaint," Carlson said in a statement. "I'm ready to move on to the next chapter of my life in which I will redouble my efforts to empower women in the workplace. I want to thank all the brave women who came forward to tell their own stories and the many people across the country who embraced and supported me in their #StandWithGretchen. All women deserve a dignified and respectful workplace." 
 
 The former Fox News host sued former Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in July, alleging that he sexually harassed her and terminated her contract in retaliation. Ailes has denied the allegations, though after 21st Century Fox launched an investigation into the claims by Carlson and several other women, Ailes resigned from the company with a reported $40 million parachute. 
 
 Now Fox News is settling the suit on Ailes' behalf, even though the company was not named as a defendant in the case. It isn't clear whether Ailes will be paying a portion of it. 
 
 According to Vanity Fair, the settlement will come with a public apology to Carlson on behalf of Fox, which is also reportedly in talks with two other women for their own settlements. 
 
 Though a settlement was never off the table, Carlson and her team indicated early on that that wasn't their ultimate goal. 
 
 "We haven’t discussed a settlement with our client or anything because no one has raised it. This is about more than money. Gretchen is standing up for something really important to her, it’s something that’s been a hallmark of her career,” Carlson's lawyer, Nancy Erika Smith told POLITICO in July, noting Carlson's work with victims of domestic violence, on sexual harassment and women empowerment. "It’s important for her to stand up for women right now.” 
 
 Allan Ripp, a spokesman for Carlson and her legal team said they had no comment in response to the settlement report or to questions as to why Carlson would agree to settle. ||||| It has been exactly two months since Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News anchor, sued her old boss, Roger Ailes, for sexual harassment. The suit inaugurated a frenetic series of events, not only within Fox News’s subterranean newsroom—where staffers feared for their jobs and, in one case, even the network’s future—but also throughout the media, as other women came forward to share their own stories of harassment. It all resulted in Ailes’s dramatic, and nearly mind-boggling, ouster from the news network that he co-founded 20 years ago. (Ailes has repeatedly, and fervently, denied all allegations of sexual harassment.) 
 
 On Friday, Ailes biographer and New York writer Gabriel Sherman, who has broken key elements of the story, published a lengthy cover article detailing Ailes’s downfall. As I have reported, Ailes’s own apparent paranoia increased around the time that Sherman began reporting his unauthorized biography, which was published in early 2014. According to a person close to Ailes, he hung a wooden door, now dismantled, that obscured any view into his office suite; according to numerous people, he also recorded anyone who entered. Ailes kept guns in the office (a Glock and Smith & Wesson were discovered by 21st Century Fox after his ouster). Carlson and others, including former Fox News booker Laurie Luhn, also detailed Ailes’s alleged harassment, much of it outlined by Sherman in his coverage. 
 
 In the early days of the Ailes saga, many applauded how 21st Century Fox was handling the crisis. Rather than defending Ailes, C.E.O. James Murdoch and Executive Chairman Lachlan Murdoch heralded a new era at the media empire by investigating him. Their swift decision to launch an internal investigation into the allegations, handled by the top-flight law firm Paul, Weiss, signaled that the younger Murdochs were prepared to adopt a different tack than their laissez–faire father, Rupert Murdoch, who is famously loyal to his deputies and whose relationship with Ailes went back decades. In doing so, they seemed determined to leave the seamiest aspects of Fox News’s culture behind for good. 
 
 But there was always a tension between cleaning things up and preserving Fox News, which makes $1 billion in annual profit. The Murdochs appear intent on putting the Ailes saga behind them as they move into the last stretches of an election and an attempt to corral crucial anchors, such as Megyn Kelly, to re-sign with the network. Now the company has agreed, on behalf of Ailes, to settle Carlson’s suit for a stunning $20 million, according to three people familiar with the settlement. To reinforce their seriousness about creating a new culture in a post-Ailes world, the company offered Carlson a public apology as part of the settlement. "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve,” the statement noted. (The company, according to two people familiar with the discussions, has also reached settlement agreements with two other women.) 
 
 Though Carlson’s case is against Ailes personally, Fox is essentially his insurer for any settlement, according to two people familiar with the arrangement, and discussions between Ailes’s legal team and 21st Century Fox’s legal team became very tense regarding how much Ailes might pay in a settlement. (At press time, it was unclear how much Ailes was personally on the hook for.) As part of the language at the end of the settlement, numerous people with knowledge of the deal told me, Carlson has agreed not to bring any further legal action against other executives at Fox News, or against the company itself. 
 
 The settlement punctuates an important chapter in the Ailes scandal. While the Paul, Weiss investigation interviewed more than 20 women, according to two sources familiar with the process, it never officially expanded to examine the broader culture of Fox News. The firm, according to numerous people familiar with the process, was apparently never ordered to scour the company’s hard drives for all evidence of sexual harassment or bawdy culture. In some ways, according to one person familiar with the process, the Paul, Weiss investigation simply got a revenue machine back on track. ||||| When Gretchen Carlson sued Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, claiming sexual harassment, many of her on-air colleagues discounted the accusations and defended Mr. Ailes. 
 
 Now Mr. Ailes has been forced out. And Ms. Carlson has reached a $20 million settlement with Fox News’s parent company and extracted a rare apology — “for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all of our colleagues deserve.” 
 
 On Thursday night, the tide apparently started to turn for some of the colleagues who were initially skeptical of Ms. Carlson. Geraldo Rivera apologized in a Facebook post for casting doubt on her claims, saying he was “filled with regret.” And on Friday morning, Greta Van Susteren, who also defended Mr. Ailes after the lawsuit was filed, published a post on Facebook expressing her own regrets. 
 
 “I read Geraldo’s FB post in which he said he regretted not believing Gretchen Carlson’s claim of sexual harassment,” wrote Ms. Van Susteren, who left Fox News on Tuesday. “We all regret it.” 
 
 She also assigned blame to Mr. Ailes’s superiors at Fox News and its parent, 21st Century Fox, writing, “I regret that Roger Ailes was not supervised by those in a public corporation who had the duty to supervise him.” 
 
 Mr. Rivera, who said on Twitter at the time, “I stand with Roger Ailes,” and Ms. Van Susteren, who said Ms. Carlson’s claims didn’t “have any ring of truth to me,” have reversed their positions. But other well-known Fox personalities have not. 
 
 Shortly after Ms. Carlson filed her suit, Sean Hannity, the Fox prime-time host, dismissed the claims as “BS.” Other popular personalities also defended Mr. Ailes, including Neil Cavuto, Maria Bartiromo, Brit Hume and Kimberly Guilfoyle. 
 
 Here are some of the more prominent defenses of Mr. Ailes offered by Fox News on-air personalities after the lawsuit was filed in July. The New York Times has asked the network for any updated comments and will post them as they are provided. ||||| Report in New York magazine says the Murdochs will ask Ailes to resign or face dismissal in wake of high-profile lawsuit filed by anchor Gretchen Carlson 
 
 Rupert Murdoch is reportedly preparing to fire Fox News chairman and chief executive Roger Ailes following allegations that he axed one of the station’s star anchors after she refused to have sex with him. 
 
 
 
 Murdoch, and his sons James and Lachlan, are said to have decided that Ailes, one of the most powerful executives in US media, should be dropped from the station he helped found 20 years ago, which has grown into one of the most profitable news brands in the world. 
 
 Gretchen Carlson's lawyer: 'deluge' of women have complaints about Ailes Read more 
 
 New York magazine quoted several unnamed sources claiming the Murdochs, who run Fox’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, have made the decision to part ways with Ailes and he could be removed with days. In a statement, 21st Century Fox said: “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded.” The company refused to answer any further questions about the situation. 
 
 Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) BREAKING: The Murdochs have decided to remove Roger Ailes, possibly within days. My latest: https://t.co/0hP9G6fUIf 
 
 The New York magazine report, written by Ailes’s biographer Gabriel Sherman, said the Murdochs decided to remove Ailes, 76 and a former adviser to presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, after reviewing a preliminary investigation into the sexual harassment allegations. 
 
 Sherman claimed that James Murdoch, 21st Century Fox’s chief executive, thought that Ailes should be asked to resign or be fired this week, while Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, the company’s co-chairmen, believed no action should be taken until after the Republican national convention, currently under way in Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 Ailes is being sued by Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host, over allegations that she was fired after refusing to have sex with him. Carlson claims her contract was terminated on 23 June, after 11 years at the network, after she rebuffed sexual advances from Ailes and complained about widespread discrimination in the newsroom. 
 
 During a meeting with Ailes to discuss Carlson’s concerns about “severe and pervasive sexual harassment”, he allegedly told her: “You and I should have had a sexual relationship a long time ago, and then you’d be good and better and I’d be good and better.” He allegedly went on to say: “Sometimes problems are easier to solve that way.” 
 
 Carlson, 50, a former Miss America, claimed in her lawsuit that after she rejected Ailes’s advances, he retaliated by cutting her pay and then firing her. 
 
 “Although this was a difficult step to take, I had to stand up for myself and speak out for all women and the next generation of women in the workplace,” she said in the lawsuit. 
 
 Ailes denies the allegations and said in a statement at the time: “This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously.” He said Carlson was let go because “her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon line-up”. 
 
 Following the publicity surrounding the lawsuit, several other women have also accused Ailes of sexual harassment. The law firm Paul, Weiss has reportedly been hired to carry out a wide-ranging investigation into the sexual harassment allegations and further concerns about Ailes’s management style. New York magazine said interviews were being conducted in Paul, Weiss offices due to concerns that Fox offices may be bugged. A spokeswoman for the law firm declined to comment. ||||| Is the Roger Ailes-era at Fox News about to end? 
 
 On Monday, New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman cited two anonymous sources in reporting that the Murdoch family leadership at parent company 21st Century Fox has settled on ousting Ailes as CEO and chairman of the cable news network. That comes amid the company’s ongoing investigation into Gretchen Carlson’s sexual harassment allegations against Ailes. 
 
 Sherman reports that Fox CEO James Murdoch is leaning toward offering Ailes the option of either resigning or facing the possibility of being fired sometime this week. Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch—James’ father and brother, respectively, and the executive co-chairmen of 21st Century Fox—are reportedly in favor of waiting to make a move until after this week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, a major news event, particularly for the conservative-leaning Fox News network. 
 
 Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson filed a sexual harassment suit against Ailes earlier this month, and soon after, New York’s Sherman reported that six women came forward, two using their full names, claiming that Ailes had sexually harassed them too. Ailes denied all allegations. 
 
 Fox hired prominent corporate law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to conduct an investigation, and the Monday report from Sherman cites anonymous sources who have been briefed on the law firm’s inquiry. In recent days, several top Fox News employees have come forward to defend their boss, and Sherman notes that the law firm is delving into the question of whether Ailes or other high-level managers applied inappropriate pressure. The firm is looking at an op-ed by Fox Business anchor Neil Cavuto, who told The New York Times on Monday that he “had no Machiavellian motive or sinister intention” when he penned a recent article slamming the accusations against Ailes. (Last week, The Washington Post published a critical article after Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly publicly supported Ailes, noting O’Reilly had himself once been accused of sexual harassment.) 
 
 21st Century Fox issued a statement saying, “This matter is not yet resolved and the review is not concluded.” Fortune reached out to Fox News for comment and will update this article with any response. 
 
 After Carlson filed her lawsuit against Ailes—a suit that, notably, does not name Fox News itself as a defendant—Fortune‘s Roger Parloff wrote about Carlson’s possible motivations in not naming the company in the suit, including the possibility that the former anchor hoped to drive a wedge between Ailes and the younger Murdoch executives at parent company 21st Century Fox. If that was, indeed, the motivation, then Monday’s report would seem to justify the decision. 
 
 Carlson’s lawsuit does not represent the first instance of sexual harassment allegations against Ailes. Sherman wrote an unauthorized biography of Ailes in 2014 that included some sexual harassment claims. On Monday, the women’s advocacy organization UltraViolet also announced the nearly 50,000 people have signed the group’s petition calling for Ailes’ removal as head of Fox News. ||||| Fox Host Greta Van Susteren Defends Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, Says Gretchen Carlson's Sexual Harassment Allegations Don't 'Have Any Ring of Truth' 
 
 RELATED VIDEO: Fox News Anchor Gretchen Carlson Sues CEO Roger Ailes for Alleged Sexual Harassment and Retaliation 
 
 Fox News host Greta Van Susteren is surprised by her former colleague Gretchen Carlson 's sexual harassment allegations against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes Speaking to PEOPLE about the situation, Van Susteren, who has been at the network for 15 years, admits she's never had an inappropriate encounter with Ailes and originally considered Carlson's allegations as those of a bitter employee."Of course, the first thing that occurred to me is that, unfortunately, we have a disgruntled employee, a colleague," she says. "I read that her show wasn't being renewed and , being a lawyer, I thought she got angry. I deal with Roger Ailes often. I've often been alone with Roger Ailes in his office over the course of 15 years and I've never seen anything like what I'm reading about in the papers and the magazine."Although Van Susteren's relationship with Carlson was limited to co-reporting on Prince William and Princess Kate's 2011 wedding, a few appearances on The Real Story and "a cup of coffee or a drink or something," Van Susteren believes that sexual harassment claims would have traveled throughout the company."People come to me because I've been there so long," she says. "That's why this doesn't have any ring of truth to me. I would have heard it. People don't keep things silent."Regarding the claims that Ailes sabotaged Carlson's career because she refused sexual advances and complained about sever and pervasive sexual harassment, Van Susteren says that she found them odd considering Ailes "was first to put a woman in primetime," meaning Catherine Crier.Van Susteren adds that "most people, man or woman, would give anything to have had the air time [Carlson] had on Fox & Friends", and would have viewed her move to the 2 p.m. time slot as a "huge promotion" since it provided Carlson with her own hour, her own name-brand show and the freedom to "produce and do what she wanted."Van Susteren also described Ailes as "the king of cable," adding that although it's not always a perfect, she's enjoyed a "very professional and very successful" working relationship with her boss."If Roger Ailes were how he's described, there's no way I would've stuck around. I don't feel like putting up with that stuff and I wouldn't," she says. "Even if he weren't doing it to me, I wouldn't want to work in that environment. I sort of feel bad for Gretchen Carlson because it's sort of a weird thing that she's done. What she's alleging is something that is alien to me. I've never heard it."On Wednesday, Carlson filed a lawsuit against Ailes, alleging that he "has unlawfully retaliated against Carlson and sabotaged her career because she refused sexual advances and complained about severe pervasive sexual harassment."The lawsuit includes Carlson's Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy, whom she claims "regularly treat[ed] her in a sexist and condescending way" when they worked together.Ailes responded to the allegations in a statement – obtained by PEOPLE – in which he calls the claims "retaliatory.""Gretchen Carlson's allegations are false. This is a retaliatory suit for the network's decision not to renew her contract, which was due to the fact that her disappointingly low ratings were dragging down the afternoon lineup," the statement reads. "When Fox News did not commence any negotiations to renew her contract, Ms. Carlson became aware that her career with the network was likely over and conveniently began to pursue a lawsuit."The statement continued: "Ironically, FOX News provided her with more on-air opportunities over her 11-year tenure than any other employer in the industry, for which she thanked me in her recent book. This defamatory lawsuit is not only offensive, it is wholly without merit and will be defended vigorously."
– Gretchen Carlson will take $20 million off Fox News' hands, settling on Roger Ailes' behalf in response to Carlson's sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit, reports Vanity Fair. Included with the settlement is what the magazine calls an "unprecedented" public apology for Carlson, an apparent effort by Fox to show its commitment to cleaning up the unpalatable culture allegedly rampant under Ailes' reign. "21st Century Fox is pleased to announce that it has settled Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit," a Fox statement read, per Politico. "We sincerely regret and apologize for the fact that Gretchen was not treated with the respect that she & all our colleagues deserve." Vanity Fair notes that while Carlson's lawsuit was technically against Ailes, Fox serves as his insurer, and conversations between the Fox and Ailes camps about how much Ailes will have to pony up himself were said to be "tense" (there's no official word yet on what that figure will be). Sources tell Vanity Fair that two other women were also granted settlements, and that as part of Carlson's settlement, she's agreed not to take any more legal action against Fox or its execs. Carlson issued a statement saying she's "gratified" the company has taken "decisive action" regarding her suit. In related news: Ailes defender Greta Van Susteren abruptly left the network Tuesday, per Politico. No official word on why, though a source tells Politico it was for financial reasons. Meanwhile, Ailes' legal team has been threatening legal action against New York magazine and reporter Gabriel Sherman for what Deadline calls a "damning" article about Fox's sexual harassment issues.