Disney Reaches $8.6 Billion Deal With Comcast to Fully Acquire Hulu
Disney is getting all of Hulu. The entertainment giant revealed on Wednesday that they plan to pay around $8.61 billion to own all of Hulu, including Comcast’s 33 percent part.
However, the final amount Disney pays might be higher. Disney and Comcast both agreed to a process that will decide how much Hulu is worth as of September 30th. If the value of Comcast’s share is found to be more than a certain minimum, Disney will have to pay the extra amount to Comcast.
Buy Remaining Hulu Stake From Comcast
Disney says they don’t know exactly when the appraisal process will finish, but they think it will be done sometime next year. This situation started because Disney made a deal with Comcast in 2019 to buy its one-third share of Hulu. Originally, this deal was supposed to happen in 2024, but they agreed to do it on September 30th instead.
At the time, the two companies agreed upon a minimum valuation of $27.5 billion for Hulu. “That was just a hypothetical that we picked five years ago,” said Comcast CEO Brian Roberts during an investors conference in September. “The company is way more valuable today than it was then.”
“We look forward to the appraisal process and the determination of Hulu’s fair market value which we expect will reflect the extraordinary value of the business,” Comcast said in a statement.
Hulu didn’t get many new subscribers last quarter, so Disney decided to raise the prices for all its streaming services. They also mentioned they might start being stricter about people sharing passwords.
In October, Hulu’s ad-free plan became more expensive, going from $14.99 a month to $17.99 a month. And if you have Hulu with Live TV, the price is going up from $68.99 a month to $75.99 a month. We’ll probably learn more about Disney’s ideas for Hulu during their earnings call next week. Furthermore, According to a report, Actor and Media Mogul Byron Allen offers $10 Billion to Acquire ABC from Disney.
Conclusion
Disney is buying all of Hulu from Comcast for around $8.61 billion, making them the sole owner. However, this price might go up after they figure out Hulu’s current value. This process started because of a 2019 deal that got moved up. Hulu raised its prices, and Disney is thinking about making it harder to share passwords. The initial estimate of Hulu’s worth is much lower than what it’s actually worth now. We might hear more details during Disney’s next earnings call.
Originally published at https://businessdor.com on November 2, 2023.