The signaling is seen when receipt of the contenders on the deadline 2019, Hulu Reception in Paramount Theater on the Lot of Paramount Studios on April 07, 2019 in Hollywood, California.
Rachel Murray | Getty images
Disney agreed to pay Comcast 438.7 million dollars for its participation in the Hulu streaming service, concluding an evaluation process of several years.
In 2023 Disney announced that she intended to buy the participation of Comcast 33% in Hulu. At the time, Disney paid $ 8.6 billion, which reflected a minimum Hulu guaranteed value of $ 27.5 billion. The two companies agreed on this floor in 2019.
Disney's announcement is not surprising because CNBC and others have been largely reported that Disney was looking to fully appropriate Hulu. Disney took two thirds of Hulu when she acquired the entertainment assets of Fox Corp.
After this initial payment, Disney and Comcast concluded an evaluation process which was originally to end in 2024.
Disney said that its assessor had reached an assessment under the guaranteed floor, while the Comcast assessor of NBCUNIVERSAL “arrived at an evaluation significantly higher than the guaranteed floor value”. The process was concluded on Monday by a third assessor, according to a dry file.
The final transaction is expected to end at the latest on July 24. Disney will record payment in its “net income due to uncontrolled interest”, which will then reduce “the net income attributable to Disney” in its third quarter tax profit account. This should not have an impact on the previous directives of Disney for income adjusted by financial year 2025.
“We are delighted that it was ultimately resolved. We had a productive partnership with Nbcuniversal, and we wish them the best chance,” Disney CEO, Bob Iger, said in a press release.
Iger added that the finished acquisition opens the way to “deeper and more transparent integration” of Hulu and Disney +content, as well as the next ESPN streaming application directly to the consumer, called ESPN.
Disney has already started to integrate the two existing services, which are also offered together in a package with ESPN +, the current sports streaming offer.
The Comcast Nbcuniversal has focused on building its streaming service, Peacock, since its launch in 2020.
“Hulu was an excellent start for us in the streaming that generated almost $ 10 billion in Comcast and created an important audience for world class content from NBCUNIVERS,” a comcast spokesman said on Monday. “We wish Disney with Hulu and appreciate the cooperative way of our teams has managed the partnership.”
Hulu had more than 50 million subscribers on March 29, according to the latest report from Disney's results. In total, Disney had 180.7 million streaming subscribers, most of which come from Disney +. Comcast reported in April that Peacock had 41 million subscribers.
Disclosure: Comcast has nbcuniversal, the parent company of CNBC.