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Disney, Comcast Agree to Move Up Hulu Stake Sale Start to September

Disney and Comcast have moved up the timeline to this month to start the process of Disney buying out Comcast's one-third stake in Hulu.

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Based on what Comcast CEO Brian Roberts had to share during an earlier appearance at a Goldman Sachs conference, it sounds like Comcast and Disney are looking to wrap up The Mouse's expected buyout of Comcast's one-third stake in Hulu. Noting that both sides "wanted to get this behind us," Roberts revealed that an agreement was reached last week to move the timeline from January 2024 to the end of this month. So here's what happens: On September 30th, the two parties start the process of transferring stake ownership with a "put/call" procedure. From there, each party's appraiser and a third-party appraiser meet to determine the value of the Hulu stake (essentially, how much Disney will have to pay). The potential endgame would be quite a change from what Disney CEO Bob Iger had to share about the company's future with Hulu – but The Mouse began warming up to the idea of assuming ownership as the months rolled along.

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Image: The Walt Disney Company

Of course, there's the matter of what the final pricetag will end up being once the dust settles on the appraisal process. During the conference, Roberts dialed back on the original $27.5B minimum valuation that had been rumbling around for the past few months. Referring to the number as "just a hypothetical," Roberts expects the value to top that based on the streamer's worth being "way more today than it was" five years ago when the agreement first came into play. "Netflix and Hulu are in a class by themselves," Robert added, referencing how Hulu's engagement is second only to Netflix among streaming services. In addition – and an important point as The Mouse looks to build upon its budling options – Disney fully folding Hulu into its bigger-picture streaming plans also "reduces churn by half" when it comes to the options available moving forward.

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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