Hulu Halts Auction, Owners Pledge $750 M in Private Capital

Hulu, LLC is one of the most popular video streaming services in the world. It’s made powerful in part by its conglomeration of media magnates that own it and fund its operations. Currently, Hulu is controlled by four media giants: Walt Disney Co. (DIS), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA)’s NBCUniversal and Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. In recent months, the entities had placed the giant streaming service up on the auction block to see if they could attract qualified and credible financial suitors who wished to take over the entity via form of business auction. After a string of bids were deemed unworthy by the investors of this entity, they’ve decided to end the auction and reinvest money into the company themselves.

Popular bidders that surfaced during this auction period included, but were not limited to, DirecTV (DTV), Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and Peter Cherni, amongst numerous others. At points, bids grew to be as much as $1 billion. Still, this was not enough to whet the financial palette of Hulu’s wealthy parents. Instead, the big four have declined all offers, and have decided that the best plan moving forwards is to invest $750 of private capital as a healthy injection into the LLC.

Hulu is Immensely Popular, Profitable

Unsurprisingly, Hulu has become a very popular video streaming service. Considering that few alternative options exist, like NetFlix, which has fewer streaming options and numerous restrictions that confine what it can actually legally stream from its catalog, it’s no surprise at how popular this service has become. Hulu actually receives more than 30 million unique visitors each month, and has posted annual revenue exceeding $690 million, while boasting a healthy and robust roster of paid subscribers that total more than 4 million persons. Naturally, investors were seeking a much more substantial bidding process when seeking to unload their smoking gun.

“Hulu has emerged as one of the most consumer friendly, technologically innovative viewing platforms in the digital era,” CEO of Disny, Robert Iger, said in the statement. “As its evolution continues, Disney and its partners are committing resources to enable Hulu to achieve its maximum potential.”

For the time being, Hulu will continue to operate as it always has.

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