Yahoo is ready to pay $800 million for popular media streaming service Hulu, according to new reports on the matter. The source believes Yahoo has bid $600 – 800 million, depending on the content licensing deals.
There has been big question marks about Hulu’s value post-acquisition, the three big content providers, Comcast, News Corp and Disney, currently own the service, but once they are gone how long will the new owners keep the licensing.
All three of the content providers would earn more selling the different shows and channels to Netflix and Amazon Prime, but with Hulu comes a liability and we believe they will offer some exclusive licensing for the new owners.
There have been other bids from DirecTV and a few private equity firms, although the media is shocked by Yahoo’s move to secure yet another big service on the back of the $1.1 billion Tumblr acquisition last week.
Yahoo is on a hunt for new and cool media sources, Tumblr has a unique crowd and Yahoo promised not to screw it up. We expect the company will have an easier time with the Hulu crowd, especially since the service is in a very topsy turvy situation.
Currently Yahoo has about $5 billion in the bank with no debts, we believe Marissa Mayer will continue to purchase new media and young talented startups, but we doubt Yahoo will drop into the red anytime soon.
Source: AllThingsD
