The drama over who would buy streaming video service Hulu, almost fit for a soap opera, has come to end with a surprise twist as Hulu’s owners have decided not to sell.
High-profile bidders that were apparently looking to buy Hulu included DirectTV, Time Warner Cable, Yahoo, and Silver Lake.
But Hulu’s owners — 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, and The Walt Disney Company — jointly said that their ownership positions will remain exactly the same. On top of not selling, the three companies are infusing $750 million in fresh capital to help the service continue to grow.
“We had meaningful conversations with a number of potential partners and buyers, each with impressive plans and offers to match,” Chase Carey, president and chief operating officer of 21st Century Fox, said in a statement. “But with 21st Century Fox and Disney fully aligned in our collective vision and goals for the business, we decided to continue to empower the Hulu team, in this fashion, to continue the incredible momentum they’ve built over the last few years.”
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Hulu was launched in 2008 and now more than 30 million monthly unique visitors. The service offers a premium version, Hulu Plus, that now has more tha four million subscribers. Hulu says it generated $690 million in revenue in 2012.
