Walt Disney must pay $438.7 million (roughly Rs. 3,755 crore) more to Comcast to complete its purchase of the Hulu streaming service, Disney said in a regulatory filing Monday.
The transaction will close before July 24. The payment will reduce Disney’s net income in the fiscal third quarter, the company said.
Disney agreed in 2019 that it would acquire Comcast’s one-third stake in the business at price that valued the whole enterprise at a minimum of $27.5 billion (roughly Rs. 23,54,206 crore) starting in 2024. When it came time to complete the sale, however, Comcast said the business was worth much more.
The two sides began an arbitration process designed to settle the dispute. The process involved three investment bankers valuing the business and was completed on June 9, the company said. Disney paid Comcast $8.6 billion (roughly Rs. 73,620 crore) already for the stake. In addition, Comcast didn’t have to make $557 million (roughly Rs. 4,940 crore) in contributions to Hulu required under their partnership agreement.
Comcast’s appraiser had valued the business as much as $5 billion (roughly Rs. 42,802 crore) more.
“We are pleased this is finally resolved,” Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said in a statement. “We have had a productive partnership with NBCUniversal, and we wish them the best of luck. Completing the Hulu acquisition paves the way for a deeper and more seamless integration of Hulu’s general entertainment content with Disney+ and, soon, with ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, providing an unrivaled value proposition for consumers.”
In its own statement, Comcast said: “We wish Disney well with Hulu and appreciate the cooperative way our teams managed the partnership.”
One of the first streaming TV services, Hulu has evolved from a joint venture between broadcasters looking for a next-day online outlet for their network programming, to a place to see original programming like the Chicago restaurant drama The Bear.
The service was a pioneer in selling advertising around its shows, something that has now been copied by most of the major streaming services. Hulu has more than 54 million subscribers.
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