Disney Finally Completes Deal to Take Full Ownership of Hulu
Disney will pay an additional $438.7 million on top of a previous $8.51 billion they’ve paid - which is a great deal for them.
Hulu will finally be 100% owned by Disney, as the company has closed a deal to buy out the last of NBC Universal’s stake in the streaming service.
What’s Happening:
- It’s been a long journey, but Variety reports the deal has finally been made for Disney to fully take ownership of Hulu.
- Disney and the NBC Universal-owned Comcast first began the buyout back in December 2023, with Disney paying $8.51 billion to Comcast at the time for what represented one third of a previous $27.5 bullion guaranteed floor value for Hulu, with the understanding that more was still owed. The question then became exactly how much that remaining amount was.
- In 2024, the two companies entered arbitration in order to figure out what the final price tag – and Disney’s final payment to complete the sale – would be. And it was ultimately decided that Disney needed to pay NBCUniversal an additional $438.7 million to complete the sale. As Variety notes, this is actually great news for Disney, given during this process Comcast had a bank value Hulu’s stake and they had determined Disney should instead pay an additional $5 billion, for what would have been around 13.5 billion total. Instead, Disney has now paid around $9 billion total to buy out the NBC Universal portion of Hulu.
- The official Disney SEC filing for the deal reveals the acquisition of NBCU’s interest in Hulu will close on or before July 24, 2025.
- The ownership of Hulu has had quite a path, with the service first beginning in 2007 as a partnership between NBCUniversal and News Corporation, the latter then the owner of 20th Century Fox film and TV. Other companies began investing in the service soon after, including Disney and Time Warner (now Warner Bros. Discovery), briefly making it a partnership between the parent companies behind most of the major TV studios (CBS/Paramount notably never participated).
- After Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, Disney then owned a majority stake in the service. With WB selling its smaller 10%, that left Disney with 67% and Comcast/NBC Universal with 33%, leading Disney to begin negotiations to take over the service completely.
What They’re Saying:
- Bob Iger (Disney CEO): “We are pleased this is finally resolved. We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck. Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers."
- Comcast, via a spokesperson, told Variety: “Hulu was a great start for us in streaming that generated nearly $10 billion in proceeds for Comcast and created an important audience for NBCUniversal’s world-class content. We wish Disney well with Hulu and appreciate the cooperative way our teams managed the partnership."
Will Disney Fully Owning Hulu Lead to the End of Hulu?
- Now that Disney owns Hulu completely, the question is, what are their long term plans for the service? Some think the answer might be… ending Hulu. At least as a standalone streaming service.
- Just last week, entertainment journalist and industry analyst Matthew Belloni of Puck wrote about his belief that some of the most recent layoffs at Disney, and their overall reduction in TV and streaming workforce, hinted that the company was looking towards a future where Hulu was not operating as its own service and was absorbed completely into Disney+ as one of the hubs there - something currently only possible if you subscribe to both services.
- Belloni did mention there would be obstacles to accomplishing this, first and foremost that Disney still hadn’t completed the purchase of NBC Universal’s portion, which Belloni noted could cost them $5 billion. Now, just a few days later, that deal is suddenly done (and for a much better price for Disney). It remains to be seen what happens next, but Hulu never grew into an international service, only ever launching in a couple of additional markets outside the United States, and in most of the world Disney+ is indeed the home of the shows we consider Hulu originals. So perhaps that’s what the future holds in the U.S. as well.
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