Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal and some PE firms approached Disney earlier this year about acquiring Hulu or operating it as a partnership, but were rebuffed
For Now Tweets: @technology : While Disney was identifying streaming as its top priority, it was second guessing just how much it wanted to invest in one of its primary platforms: Hulu https://www.bloomberg.com/... Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : Hulu had plans to expand overseas, and finally compete with Netflix outside the US. Disney was enthusiastic until it considered the cost. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : Comcast approached Disney about buying Hulu back earlier this year. So did private equity firms. They sensed Disney wasn't invested in it, but Disney quickly said no. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : Disney would need to spend at least $4 billion to push Hulu into Latin America, Europe (and eventually elsewhere). https://www.bloomberg.com/... Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : Disney says its future is streaming. But is it all-in on Hulu, the very large streaming service it controls? I spent a few months trying to figure that out. https://www.bloomberg.com/... @business : Disney executives are nervous about how much they will owe Comcast if its streaming service for adults grows much bigger https://www.bloomberg.com/... Mike Shields / @digitalshields : “some Disney employees speculate Hulu will become a hub within Disney+” - this would be bizarre given that Hulu is ad supported. Good one from @Lucas_Shaw https://www.bloomberg.com/... Eric Goldman / @theericgoldman : Interesting article about why Disney's grand, global plans for Hulu have not come to fruition. Lots to ponder about its future, including the “Could become a hub on Disney+” mention - because again, Disney owns a LOT of non kid-friendly content https://www.bloomberg.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
This 2020 report reads differently with five years of hindsight. At the time, Disney had just reported 30.4M Hulu subscribers, up 33% YoY alongside 26.5M for Disney+, yet chose to take general entertainment international under the Star brand in 2021 rather than expand Hulu overseas — Lucas Shaw reported Disney balked at the cost of taking Hulu global. Comcast and the PE firms were reading the same signal: Disney was committed to streaming, but ambivalent about Hulu specifically.
The suitors sensed right. Disney later decided to fold Hulu content into Disney+ rather than run it as a standalone growth platform, which set up a valuation fight with Comcast that went to arbitration, and ended with Disney paying NBCUniversal's 33% stake a $8.61B guaranteed floor, closed in 2025 with an additional $439M payment. The 2020 rebuff was the moment Disney chose consolidation over partnership — and Comcast's exit price was set by the contract, not the market.
First-order effects
- Disney locks in sole control of its streaming roadmap: Hulu stays a wholly-influenced asset it can merge into Disney+ rather than a platform it must co-fund with Comcast or share with financial buyers.
- Comcast's path to monetizing its 33% stake narrows to a negotiated sale — the approach failing makes the eventual buyout the only realistic exit, which is exactly how it resolved.
Second-order effects
- With a sale off the table in 2020, the partnership frictions compound: Comcast stops funding Hulu and the two sides end up in arbitration over valuations, turning a joint venture into a pricing dispute.
- Disney's cost discipline pushes its international general-entertainment bet onto Star instead of Hulu, splitting its brand strategy by geography and leaving Hulu's global ambitions shelved.
Third-order effects
- The pattern that holds through 2025: minority stakes in streaming JVs get resolved by guaranteed floors rather than open-market sales, giving exiting partners a contractual price floor while controlling owners pay up for full consolidation.
- Streaming ownership consolidates around single controllers — Disney absorbing Hulu entirely, mirroring an industry-wide drift away from shared platforms toward owned, integrated services.
The trend: Streaming joint ventures are unwinding into full buyouts at contractually floored prices, as controlling owners consolidate and minority partners exit.