Newsmax Settlement: $67M Dominion Defamation Deal Terms and Impact

Newsmax agreed in August 2025 to pay $67 million to settle the Dominion defamation lawsuit over false claims about the 2020 presidential election that the conservative network aired in the weeks after Joe Biden’s victory. The deal requires no apology, no retraction, and no admission of wrongdoing from Newsmax, and it resolves one of the last major pieces of litigation tied to the election fraud conspiracy theories that swept right-wing media.¹²

What Dominion Accused Newsmax Of

Dominion Voting Systems sued Newsmax in Delaware Superior Court in 2021, seeking $1.6 billion in damages.¹ The complaint pointed to on-air statements that Dominion had aided election fraud, manipulated votes through an algorithm, maintained ties to the Venezuelan government, paid kickbacks to government officials, and was connected to voting irregularities in Dallas.³ Newsmax also gave airtime to the theory that Dominion machines were rigged for Biden using a system linked to the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez.⁴

Internal communications later showed that people inside Newsmax doubted the claims in real time. Host Bob Sellers wrote two days after the race was called for Biden, “How long are we going to play along with election fraud?” Employees reportedly warned against false allegations from guests, and network owner Christopher Ruddy described meetings between Donald Trump and attorney Sidney Powell as “scary.”⁴

The Pretrial Rulings That Set Up the Deal

The case was assigned to Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, who had also presided over Dominion’s earlier defamation case against Fox News.⁵ In April 2025, Judge Davis issued a partial summary judgment finding that Newsmax had published false and defamatory statements about Dominion, and he identified 19 specific statements as defamatory per se. The ruling settled the falsity question as a matter of law. Only actual malice, meaning knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth, and the amount of damages remained for a jury.³

Newsmax objected to how the case was heading toward trial. The company said the judge had entered partial summary judgment against its broadcasting subsidiary before that subsidiary was formally served with the complaint. The court also signaled it would likely bar the jury from hearing that Fox News had previously settled with Dominion for $787.5 million, evidence Newsmax wanted to use in its defense.⁵ Trial had been set for October 2025.

Payment Schedule and Terms

Newsmax disclosed the settlement in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on August 18, 2025, three days after the agreement was finalized on August 15.⁴ The $67 million is payable in three installments:

$27 million paid on August 15, 2025
$20 million due by January 15, 2026
$20 million due by January 15, 2027⁶

The agreement contains no apology or retraction requirement, and Newsmax did not admit wrongdoing.²⁷ A Dominion spokesperson said only, “We are pleased to have settled this matter.”¹

What Newsmax Said About the Deal

Newsmax stood by its coverage. In a statement, the company said it “believed it was critically important for the American people to hear both sides of the election disputes that arose in 2020” and called its reporting “fair, balanced, and conducted within professional standards of journalism.”⁴ CEO Christopher Ruddy described the settlement as a “strategic business decision made in the best interests of the company and its shareholders” that lets Newsmax “move forward from the litigation.”⁸

Ruddy also attacked Judge Davis, saying the judge “effectively entered a confiscation of our property because our reporting was not always sympathetic to Joe Biden.”⁹ The company told investors that the pretrial rulings had convinced it that it “would not receive a fair trial.”⁵

Financial Impact on the Company

The Dominion payment came on top of a $40 million settlement Newsmax reached with Smartmatic in September 2024, which was structured over time and included a warrant for shares of preferred stock.¹⁰ The two deals combined cost Newsmax $107 million.¹¹

That is a significant amount for a company that reported roughly $135 million in annual revenue for fiscal year 2023 and has historically operated at a loss. Newsmax went public in early 2025 through a $75 million IPO on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NMAX.¹² The company said it expected to fund the settlement from revenues and anticipated no disruption to operations or growth.⁵

Investors welcomed the resolution. Newsmax stock rose 15% on the day the settlement was announced, as the market absorbed the removal of a $1.6 billion legal threat.¹³ The company booked the $67 million cost in its second-quarter 2025 results, producing a quarterly net loss of $75.2 million.⁸ By the first quarter of 2026, Newsmax reported $51.7 million in revenue (up 14% year over year), a narrowed net loss of $2.2 million, and $129.1 million in cash and short-term investments. Its remaining settlement liabilities stood at $48.3 million.¹⁴

How It Compares to the Fox News Settlement

The $67 million is a fraction of the $787.5 million Fox News paid to settle Dominion’s defamation case in April 2023.¹ Scale accounts for much of the gap. CNN reported that Newsmax’s television ratings are roughly one-tenth of Fox’s.¹¹ Judge Davis presided over both cases, ruled in both that the network had broadcast false and defamatory statements about Dominion, and saw both settle before a jury could reach the malice and damages questions.⁷

Where Dominion’s Other Cases Stand

Dominion has settled a series of related cases. In the fall of 2025, it reached confidential settlements with Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, resolving lawsuits that had originally sought $1.3 billion from each.¹⁵ Smartmatic’s separate $2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News is still pending. As of December 2025, both sides had argued summary judgment before New York State Supreme Court Justice David B. Cohen, who has not ruled on whether the case will go to trial.¹⁶

1
Politico. Newsmax Dominion Voting Defamation Settlement
2
The New York Times. Newsmax Dominion Defamation Lawsuit Settlement
3
CNBC. Delaware Judge Rules Newsmax Defamed Dominion Voting Systems
4
PBS NewsHour. Newsmax to Pay $67M in Defamation Case Over False Election Claims
5
Newsmax Investor Relations. Newsmax Announces Settlement With Dominion Voting Systems
6
ABC News. Dominion Voting Systems Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Newsmax
7
NPR. Newsmax Pays $67 Million to Settle Defamation Case Linked to Election Coverage
8
Newsmax Investor Relations. Newsmax Announces Second Quarter Financial Results
9
First Amendment Encyclopedia – MTSU. Fox News Thrives Two Years After Court Settlement, but Election Coverage Fight Goes On
10
Axios. Newsmax Smartmatic Defamation Lawsuit $40 Million Settlement
11
CNN. Newsmax Dominion Settle Election Defamation Lawsuit
12
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Newsmax Offering Circular
13
Motley Fool. Why Newsmax Stock Surged 15% Higher Today
14
Newsmax Investor Relations. Newsmax Announces First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
15
ABC News. Dominion and Rudy Giuliani Reach Confidential Settlement in Defamation Case
16
NPR. Fox News Smartmatic Lawsuit Election Claims Trial