Hulu gets ready to put itself up for sale

Hulu is retaining investment banking firms Morgan Stanley and Guggenheim Partners to facilitate a potential sale of the company. Prospective bidders were notified today that the sale process will begin about two weeks from now, according to information from anonymous sources in correspondence with the L.A. Times.

The news of Hulu’s intentions comes less than a day after information surfaced of an offer to purchase the streaming media company by an undisclosed potential buyer rumored to be Yahoo.

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In another move signaling the company is serious about putting itself up for sale, Hulu reached an agreement with News Corp. today to keep TV programming from Fox Broadcasting Co. on its streaming service, reports Variety. Securing long-term licensing contracts with all of the media companies that have a stake in Hulu is an absolute necessity if Hulu wants to maintain its value heading into acquisition negotiations with potential buyers.

After all, Hulu is only as valuable as its library of content. And any potential buyer will want assurances that the current selection of content in its media library isn’t going to get pulled by the likes of Comcast, News Corp. and Disney, which own TV programming rights for NBC-Universal, Fox and ABC, respectively.

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