As part of of Disney’s acquisition of Fox, they acquired 30% of Hulu — giving the media giant a 60% ownership of the streaming service. In November, it was believed that AT&T was looking to sell their 10% stake in Hulu to Disney — which they got as part of their acquisition of Time Warner. Now, Variety reports that Disney is actively talking to AT&T about a deal for their stake in the streaming service.
The 10% stake, worth nearly $1B, would help AT&T reduce their debt as they offload nonessential assets. As AT&T-owned WarnerMedia is expected to launch their own streaming service late next year, owning a minority share in Hulu makes less strategic sense. Comcast, which owns the other 30% of Hulu, has expressed interest in keeping their share, but that may change if Disney increases their ownership share.
While Disney will be launching Disney+, their Netflix-competitor focused on family entertainment late next year — they plan to use Hulu as a distribution channel for their non-family friendly entertainment content.