Who will own Hulu: Disney or Comcast? Here is the latest update.
Who will own Hulu? Disney and Comcast are in talks to decide, and here is the latest.
What is Hulu
Like Disney+ and Netflix, Hulu is a subscription streaming service where you can watch the latest shows. Along with original programming, you can find shows owned by Disney, 20th Century, ABC, FX, and more.
The service launched all the way back in 2007 and is mostly owned by The Walt Disney Company. They own 67% of Hulu while Comcast owns the other 33%. Back in 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox which gave them the majority of the shares. Comcast, the only other shareholder, agreed to give up its control of Hulu to Disney.
This agreement is set to end in early 2024.
Discussions
Under the original 2019 agreement, Comcast can force Disney to buy the remaining 33%. Or, Disney can require Comcast to sell. The guaranteed minimum total equity has a value of $27.5 billion.
The talks were set to begin in January 2024, which is coming up in just a matter of months, However, Comcast just announced those talks have now been pushed up to September 30, 2023.
"We are excited to get this resolved," Roberts said today, September 6, at Goldman Sachs' Communacopia and Technology conference. "And the minimum $27.5 billion that people have bandied about, that was a hypothetical that we picked five years ago because Disney has control of the company. The company is way more valuable today than it was then."
The two companies will each have their own appraiser, and if their numbers do not match up a third party appraiser may be brought in. This will be the biggest and first-ever sale of a streaming service at this level.
As the deadline draws near, Comcast's NBCUniversal has begun removing content from Hulu and put it on its own fledgling streaming platform, Peacock. So, if you have a subscription with Hulu just be aware you may see some sudden shifts in what is available to watch.
Who do you hope owns all of Hulu? Let us know in the comments below and share this post with a friend.
