MUMBAI: Hulu will stop its pursuit of finding a buyer. The owners of the popular online video website have decided not to sell the property that has been under attack from several competitors.
The new decision was taken after months of negotiations between its owners like Walt Disney Co, News Corp , Comcast Corp‘s NBC Universal and Providence Equity and potential buyers.
Hulu ditched an initial public offering last December that might have raised up to $300 million.
All the owners of the site said in a statement on Thursday that they had collectively decided against a sale of the video service. "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," they said.
This is the second instance that Hulu‘s owners had envisioned a full or partial exit strategy that could not bear fruit.
Bids for the website ranged from as low as $500 million to as much as $2 billion, it is understood. Among the prospective buyers were Google Inc, Amazon.com Inc , DirecTV and Dish Network Corp. In fact, Google had offered more than $4 billon for the site, but wanted longer-term guarantees to its video content. The owners did not agree to this.
