after five sexual harassment settlements by o'reilly and fox news were reported by "the new york times", "the o'reilly factor" lost more than half its advertisers within a week; almost 60 companies withdrew their ads. despite the loss of advertisers, "the o'reilly factor"'s ratings increased during the controversy. on april 11, 2017, o'reilly announced he would take a two-week vacation and would return to the program on april 24, 2017.