Disney is to pay Comcast close to $439 million for its stake Hulu, in a deal that will allow it to finally take control of the US streaming service.
The payment is a significant reduction on the guaranteed floor value of $27.5 billion agreed between Disney and Comcast’s NBCUniversal in 2023.
Disney has effectively run Hulu since 2019, after Comcast ceded control. Since the acquisition of much of the former Fox assets, and the launch of Disney+, Star has become a kind of Hulu International as home to content originally created for Hulu itself.
Hulu was launched in October 2007 as a News Corporation (later 21st Century Fox) and NBCUniversal. Disney later bought into the service as did AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Providence Equity.
