Comcast, Disney Appoint Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan To Determine Hulu's Worth As Sale Process Advances

Streaming platform Hulu is one step closer to having a single owner as Comcast Corporation CMCSA and The Walt Disney Company DIS engage investment banks to evaluate the company’s value.

As reported by CNBC, Comcast, a one-third stakeholder in Hulu, has brought on Morgan Stanley while Disney, which owns the remaining two-thirds, has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. The investment banks are tasked with providing a fair valuation for Hulu, a condition set up in a 2019 agreement between Disney and Comcast.

Almost five years back, Comcast and Disney struck an unusual agreement following Disney’s acquisition of the majority of Fox’s assets, including Fox’s minority stake in Hulu. This deal gave Disney majority control over Hulu. Comcast, however, didn’t sell its Hulu stake to Disney immediately, believing the value of streaming video would rise between 2019 and 2024.

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The two companies had initially set an option strike date of January 2024 but moved it forward to Sep. 30 last month. From Nov. 1, either company can trigger the option to buy out the other’s stake. Once triggered, the two investment banks will commence their valuation of Hulu.

The valuation process isn’t straightforward due to Hulu’s size and its 48.3 million subscribers, making it a unique case as a pure-play streaming service of this scale has never been sold before. Hulu’s valuation will be determined by an average of the two banks’ assessments if they are within 10% of each other. The 2019 deal set a floor valuation for Hulu at $27.5 billion.

There is currently no timeline for the valuation process or when a deal will be finalized. However, both Disney and Comcast are eager for a resolution, which led to the option strike date being moved forward.

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