Hulu sale called off

The owners of US VoD service Hulu have stopped looking for a buyer, ending a second long-running bidding process for the site.

Disney, 21st Century Fox and NBC Universal said they are keeping their existing shares in Hulu and will invest US$750m to help the service grow.

Hulu was put up for sale earlier this year and reportedly received bids of US$1bn from DirecTV and Chernin Entertainment/AT&T.

Other companies linked to the sale included Guggenheim Digital Media, Yahoo, KKR and Silverlake Partners, in partnership with William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

Chase Carey, president and chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox, said the best way forward was to invest in Hulu to compete with rival companies.

“We had meaningful conversations with a number of potential partners and buyers, each with impressive plans and offers to match,” Carey said.

“But with 21st Century Fox and Disney fully aligned in our collective vision and goals for the business, we decided to continue to empower the Hulu team, in this fashion, to continue this incredible momentum they’ve built over the last few years.”

Hulu is being overseen by former VP of content Andy Forssell, who was promoted to CEO at the beginning of this month, taking over from Jason Kilar.
A buyer for Hulu was previously sought in 2011.