Disney to Buy Comcast's Stake in Hulu
After years of anticipation, we're at a major moment in streaming
BREAKING NEWS
Disney announced yesterday they have agreed to buy Comcast's 1/3rd stake in Hulu by December 1st for around $8.61 billion.
WHAT HAPPENED
This deal was widely expected, and Comcast has been negotiating with Disney about this deal since around 2019. This will give Disney full ownership of Hulu, making Disney a powerful force in streaming. Disney has also agreed to an appraisal process where they could pay more for Hulu based on the service's equity value as of September 30th.
THE NEW STREAMING JUGGERNAUT
With Disney facing a lot of weakness in the last 6 months thanks to a messy content strategy, this move is a final consolidation of Disney's new streaming empire. With Disney rumored to be also exploring a sale of ESPN, it's becoming clear that the House of Mouse is pushing hard to stay competitive with the likes of Netflix.
WHY IT MATTERS
Netflix has effectively proven that there's still a lot of money to be made in streaming if you structure your costs appropriately. With Disney being a full owner of Hulu, they have the opportunity to completely realign their content library and establish a new growth path. Fully owning Hulu doesn't automatically make Disney competitive with Netflix, but it least gives them more of a chance to gain momentum in the streaming wars. With this deal widely expected, Disney's stock didn't move much in early trading.