As Bob Iger is back in charge as Disney CEO, the future of Hulu now seems less clear as rather than take full ownership from Comcast, the Mouse House could end up selling its majority stake.
Interviewed by CNBC on Thursday, Iger was noncommittal on the question of Hulu’s future. Disney currently owns 67% of Hulu, with Comcast owning the remaining 33%.
Comcast and Disney did a deal in May 2019 which gave Disney full control of Hulu. In exchange, Comcast has the right to sell its ownership stake, at a value of somewhere around $9.2 billion, to Disney as early as January 2024. Disney could also require Comcast to sell it at that point.
Prior to Iger, ex-Disney CEO Bob Chapek expressed interest in making a deal with Comcast that would see Disney take full ownership of Hulu. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts countered that, suggesting he’d be interested in buying out Disney’s majority share.
Iger says he’s open to all possibilities:
“Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of [Hulu]. But I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, particularly in the competitive landscape that we are operating in, and we are going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
Iger’s comments come after Disney beat Wall Street earnings estimates for the December 2022 quarter, but the studio is also instituting around $5.5 billion in cost-cutting measures.
Hulu stood at 48 million subscribers at the end of 2022. The service is limited mostly to the United States, whereas most overseas markets have the ‘Star’ section within Disney+ which carries Hulu’s original content and the 20th Century Fox library.
