Why Disney and Comcast Still Can’t Reach an Agreement on Hulu
The fate of Hulu is still hanging in the balance following statements made by Disney CEO Bob Iger this week. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Tech, Media and Telecom conference on ThursdayIger said Disney is still debating whether to buy out Comcast’s 33 percent stake in Hulu, citing the current economic downturn and the company’s own problems with Disney Plus.
“What we’re doing now, because we own two-thirds of Hulu and we have an agreement with Comcast that could lead to us owning 100 percent, is we’re studying the company really, really carefully,” Iger said. . In an interview with CNBC last monthIger had similarly refuted assumptions that Disney would buy the remaining stake in Hulu, saying “that’s not necessarily the case” and that “everything is on the table now”.
Comcast has a firm deal to sell its 33 percent share of Hulu to Disney in January 2024
In 2019, Comcast and Disney announced an agreement that would eventually give Disney full control of the Hulu streaming service. But that deal isn’t necessarily a foregone conclusion — instead, it simply allows Disney or Comcast to force the sale of Comcast’s remaining stake in Hulu to Disney starting in January 2024. Hulu’s actual valuation will be independently assessed closer to the sale deadline, but the deal gives a guaranteed minimum valuation of $27.5 billion – making Comcast’s stock worth at least $9 billion. (Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCU division is a minority investor in Vox Media, parent company of The Verge.)
In light of the economic downturn, Disney is hesitant to commit to the purchase
While he said Hulu is a “solid platform” and “very attractive” to advertisers, Iger’s caution isn’t unfounded. “It’s already proven valuable to them, and advertising has proven valuable to us,” said Iger. “But the environment is very, very tricky right now, and before we make big decisions about our level of investment, our commitment to that business, we want to understand where it could go.”
Comcast president Mike Cavanagh responded to the hesitation expressed by Iger at the same Morgan Stanley media conference in February, claiming that the company is open to other offers for its Hulu stake, albeit at the risk of voiding its current deal with Disney. “Remember they and we got a very clean and good deal in 2019 for a put call that will happen in early 2024,” said Cavanagh, indicated by deadline. “We are very happy with that. But if there is something else, we have to take that into account.”
As it stands, Comcast can still force Disney to buy its 33 percent stake in Hulu next year under the terms of the put-call deal. Disney could similarly force Comcast to sell, but since Iger says he’s “targeting $5.5 billion in cost savings across the business,” it’s unlikely he’ll have enough money behind the banks at Disney World in the coming months. find to pursue such a move. .
