Bidders have dropped out, and some bids have reportedly been too low.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":337352,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"entrepreneur,media,","session":"D"}']Last month, we reported that the sale might be in jeopardy. Today, a new report from Business Insider states that Hulu’s sale is less likely than ever.
Currently, the online streaming video property is jointly owned by Disney, News Corp., Comcast and Providence Equity. Last June, the ownersdecided to put Hulu , citing disagreements on the direction the service should take.
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
If the sale doesn’t go through, it is unclear exactly what path Hulu will take, given the aforementioned disagreements. However, the venture will be investing around $375 million in acquiring new content this year.
Bidding was expected to start at $1.5 billion and ranged up to $2 billion. Reported bidders included Dish Network, Google, Yahoo, Amazon and DirecTV. The latter company withdrew from the contest early last month after bidding too low.
To many observers, Amazon seemed like the perfect fit, but so far, the highest bidders for the service were reportedly Google and Dish Network, whose offers ranged between $1.9 billion and $4 billion.
Currently, Hulu has more than one million paying subscribers and just began its international expansion with a streaming service launch in Japan.
Hulu’s revenue totals around $500 million, according to its Q2 2011 progress report.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More