Hulu has pulled the plug on sales proceedings. Owners News Corp, Comcast, and Disney on Thursday released a joint statement confirming that they won't sell Hulu.
“Since Hulu holds a unique and compelling strategic value to each of its owners, we have terminated the sale process and look forward to working together to continue mapping out its path to even greater success,” the statement reads. “Our focus now rests solely on ensuring that our efforts as owners contribute in a meaningful way to the exciting future that lies ahead for Hulu.”
The process began in June when it was rumored that Yahoo had approached Hulu with an unsolicited offer. Over the course of the next few months, various tech companies were mentioned as potential buyers including Google, Yahoo, Amazon, DirecTV, and others.
Hulu’s owners have not pointed to a specific reason for abandoning the sale, but it could be because they were unsatisfied with the offers submitted. Dish Network allegedly had the highest bid with $1.9 billion, but the owners were said to have been hoping for an offer of more than $2 billion.
On the table were rights to Hulu and Hulu Plus as well as rights to exclusive content on the sites for two years, however Hulu never actually confirmed what it was selling.
Supposedly Google actually had the highest bid, a whopping $4 billion, but the Internet giant was asking for more content for a longer period of time, and Hulu wasn’t willing to give that up.
Other possible buyers allegedly decreased their bids when they learned that Hulu’s owners planned to remove their free content from Hulu when contracts expire in a few years, which would mean a new owner would have to make new deals.
Beyond disappointing bids, there never seemed to be a consensus among Hulu’s owners about the decision to sell. Disney CEO Bob Iger said over the summer that he was committed to a sale, But News Corp CEO Chase Carey wasn’t as convinced. He had hinted around the same time that his company might opt to hold onto its shares. Comcast, however, didn’t have a say in the deal as it gave up voting rights as a condition of its purchase of NBC Universal.