Hulu Owners to Buy out Private Equity Firm’s Stake for $200 Million

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Hulu’s entertainment conglomerate owners have a handshake agreement
to buy out private equity firm Providence Equity Partners’ 10 percent
stake in the online video joint venture for $200 million, Bloomberg News reported.

The deal would value Hulu at around $2 billion and allow Providence to double the investment it made in the company in 2007.

Providence, which has held stakes in various other media and
entertainment companies, including Univision Communications, has an
option mid-year to sell its Hulu stake and has been widely expected to
look for an exit after previously pushing for an IPO, which never
happened. Late last year, fellow owners News Corp., Walt Disney and
Comcast’s NBCUniversal, which is a passive owner, were considering
acquisition offers for Hulu, but decided to continue owning it.

NBCUniversal had to give up its Hulu board representation as part of
its acquisition by cable giant Comcast and therefore hasn’t been
involved in the discussions, somewhat complicating its role in the
process, Bloomberg said.

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