Following news that Disney+ lost a significant amount of subscribers, which precipitated layoffs at Disney, newly-restored CEO Bob Iger has seemingly dropped another bombshell: Hulu could be up for sale. The House of Mouse owns two-thirds of the streaming service, and there has been speculation that it could ultimately buy Comcast out of the remaining shares. However, Iger told CNBC on Thursday morning that is “not necessarily the case.”
Via Deadline:
“Everything is on the table right now, so I am not going to speculate whether we are a buyer or a seller of it. But I obviously have suggested that I’m concerned about undifferentiated general entertainment, particularly in the competitive landscape that we are operating in, and we are going to look at it very objectively and expansively.”
When asked by host David Farber if Disney is open to Comcast buying its stakes in Hulu, Iger responded, “We will be open minded.”
Iger’s remarks arrive at a time when streaming platforms are aggressively re-evaluating their content strategy. Netflix went through a similar patch of belt-tightening in 2022 after a rough quarter, and HBO Max has been axing content left and right as Warner Bros. Discovery tries to navigate a massive amount of debt.
Interestingly, Iger noted back in September 2022 that things in the streaming world were about to get tight even with satellite and linear TV rapidly approaching a cliff. “I don’t think all streamers are created equal,” Iger said at the time. “I don’t think they’ll all make it.” During the same interview he predicted Disney+, Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV would most likely be safe. Hulu, however, was notably not on that list.
(Via Deadline)