Hulu, an American subscription-based video streaming platform, is currently owned 67% by The Walt Disney Company and 33% by Comcast Corporation’s NBC Universal. On Wednesday, Disney announced that it would purchase Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu by December 01, 2023, to become the sole owner of the video streaming service.
According to Disney, the guaranteed floor value of Hulu was set at $27.5 billion in 2019. Based on that, it would have to pay NBCU $8.61 billion to acquire the 33% stake in the video streaming service. However, Hulu’s equity fair value has most probably shot up since then, and in that case, Disney says that the company will pay “NBCU its percentage of the difference between the equity fair value and the guaranteed floor value.” According to Disney, “Hulu’s equity fair value will be assessed as of September 30.”
Prices of video streaming services have been going up
Since Disney acquired 21st Century Fox (which gave the company a majority stake in Hulu), it has been offering access to Hulu through multiple subscription plans, including Disney Bundle Duo Premium, Disney Bundle Trio Basic, and Disney Bundle Trio Premium. Last month, both, Disney and Hulu increased the prices of their video streaming plans. The price of Disney+ went up from $14.99 to $17.99, and that of Hulu was increased from $10.99 to $13.99. Netflix too has increased the prices of its subscription plans.
