The one-third ownership of popular OTT platform Hulu held by NBCUniversal is being acquired by The Walt Disney Company, putting the wheels in motion on what some industry pundits believe will be the consolidation of the offering with Disney+.
Following Wednesday’s Closing Bell on Wall Street, Disney confirmed that it will acquire the 33% stake in Hulu LLC held by Comcast Corp.’s NBC Universal.
This will come after Comcast on November 1 will exercise its right under the put/call arrangement between the two companies into motion. The acquisition of Comcast’s stake in Hulu will be “at fair market value,” as Disney says it will further its streaming objectives.
Much like the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ into “Max,” there has been much chatter about how Hulu and Disney+ could be merged into a single OTT platform. This deal does much toward accomplishing such a task.
Under the terms of the put/call arrangement, by December 1, Disney expects it will pay NBCU approximately $8.61 billion. This represents NBCU’s percentage of the $27.5 billion guaranteed floor value for Hulu that was set when the companies entered into their agreement in 2019, minus the anticipated outstanding capital call contributions payable by NBCU to Disney.
Under the appraisal process agreed to by Disney and Comcast, Hulu’s equity fair value will be assessed as of September 30, 2023. If the value is ultimately determined to be greater than the guaranteed floor value, Disney will pay NBCU its percentage of the difference between the equity fair value and the guaranteed floor value.
“While the timing of the appraisal process is uncertain, we anticipate it should be completed during the 2024 calendar year,” Disney said in a statement.
