21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. will not sell Hulu after all, and instead invest $750 million making it a streaming competitor to rival the likes of Netflix.
Following weeks of speculation about who might end up owning the website, including bids of around $1 billion by the likes of DIRECTV and AT&T, Hulu’s owners decided that the equity value of the company outstrips the sale value in the long run.
“We believe the best path forward for Hulu is a meaningful recapitalization that will further accelerate its growth under the current ownership structure,” said Chase Carey, president of 21st Century Fox, in a statement.
And Robert A. Iger, CEO of Disney, told reporters at the Allen & Company media and technogy conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, “The future of Hulu is bright, and if the future of Hulu is bright, then we should hold onto it.”
For now, the three owning companies are mum on how their decision will effect Hulu’s operation and its tens of millions of monthly users. Anonymous employees of the companies have suggested Hulu Plus, the website’s paid section, might be beefed up, and that Hulu could become a hub for “TV Everywhere,” turning that long-discussed concept into a more streamlined reality.
With the $750 million investment from its backers, Hulu will be able to increase it original programming, as Netflix has done. It claims that it will roll out more than 40 new original series in the next couple of years.
Read more at The New York Times.
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