After four months of speculation that one of tech’s biggest names would buy Hulu, owners of the streaming-video site say it’s no longer for sale.
The official joint statement came Thursday from News Corp., Disney, Providence Equity Partners and Hulu’s executive management team in a blog:
“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 owners wrote. “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."
Everyone from Google to DISH to Amazon had been rumored as possible suitors. It all started this past summer when Hulu got an unsolicited buyout offer, but ended Thursday after there became too many barriers between the company and its potential buyers regarding streaming-content rights, the Wall Street Journal said.
Hulu recently broke the 1 million subscriber mark, and many in the industry believe the company can steal customers from OTT titan Netflix, which has been going through a public-relations nightmare the last few months over a rate hike and a plan to separate its DVD business from its streaming business, a decision it rescinded shortly thereafter.
