Disney chief says Hulu committed to selling itself
updated 03:35 pm EDT, Wed July 6, 2011
No time frame given for sale
For the past few weeks, rumors have swirled around the possible sale of Hulu. Today, Disney CEO Bob Igor confirmed that Disney, NBCUniversal and News Corp., the TV streaming service's owners are indeed looking to sell off. Igor declined to provide a timeframe for a deal or to hint who might be the acquirer.
There is no shortage of rumored potential buyers. Stories started to air in late June that Hulu was up for sale and had retained Morgan Stanley to provide guidance. Since then, Hulu was claimed to be shopping itself around first to Google, Microsoft or Yahoo, and more recently to Amazon, AT&T and Verizon.
While there is no identified leader, some see Google as interested as a means of gaining access into Hollywood. Amazon may have some interest mainly because Hulu's CEO, Jason Kilar, came from the online retailing giant.
Kilar gave no indication as to how much the sale of Hulu might reap for its owners. He did reveal that Hulu is expected to have one million paid subscribers by the end of this year, generating revenues of $500 million. [via Fierce online video]
