Hulu Stops Bidding Process, May Not Have Gotten Suitable Offer
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Hulu has decided to forgo the traditional sale process in favor of another option: not selling itself.
The Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) NBCUniversal and Providence Equity Partner collaboration said in a statement Friday: "Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success."
Notably, NBCUniversal wasn't mentioned anywhere in the release, potentially due to the relinquishment of management responsibilities as part of it's deal with Comcast.
Over the summer, Hulu said it was initiating a bidding process, and estimates valued the company at $2.5 to 3.0 billion. Might today's announcement be the result of Hulu not getting good enough bids for a sale?
Part of the issue might have been the guarantees; nothing was set in stone about whether a buyer would have similar access to TV shows and movies once the content providers were out of the picture. News Corp owns Fox Networks, which had such shows as Family Guy and American Dad, while NBCUniversal has Saturday Night Live and The Office.
Bidders mentioned over the process included Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), and DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH), amongst others. Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) acknowledged in July it wasn't looking to acquire its rival.
Hulu charges $7.99 per month for a subscription, which about 1 million people are a part of, and it receives 25 million hits per month from unique viewers of its free streams.
The Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA), Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) NBCUniversal and Providence Equity Partner collaboration said in a statement Friday: "Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success."
Notably, NBCUniversal wasn't mentioned anywhere in the release, potentially due to the relinquishment of management responsibilities as part of it's deal with Comcast.
Over the summer, Hulu said it was initiating a bidding process, and estimates valued the company at $2.5 to 3.0 billion. Might today's announcement be the result of Hulu not getting good enough bids for a sale?
Part of the issue might have been the guarantees; nothing was set in stone about whether a buyer would have similar access to TV shows and movies once the content providers were out of the picture. News Corp owns Fox Networks, which had such shows as Family Guy and American Dad, while NBCUniversal has Saturday Night Live and The Office.
Bidders mentioned over the process included Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), and DISH Network (Nasdaq: DISH), amongst others. Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) acknowledged in July it wasn't looking to acquire its rival.
Hulu charges $7.99 per month for a subscription, which about 1 million people are a part of, and it receives 25 million hits per month from unique viewers of its free streams.
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