Hulu Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors

Hulu was acquired by Disney for $29B in November 2023, a 2.4x multiple on $12B of revenue.

See full Hulu profile

Hulu acquisition price

$29B

Acquired by Disney · Nov 2023

Hulu revenue at acquisition

$12B

Last twelve months · Nov 2023

Hulu revenue multiple at acquisition

2.4x

EV/Revenue · Nov 2023

Cumulative funding Hulu raised

$583M

across 1 funding round

Hulu Overview

About Hulu

Hulu is an American subscription streaming television service owned by The Walt Disney Company and operated through its Disney Streaming business. It was established in October 2007 as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBCUniversal and launched publicly in March 2008, with Providence Equity, Disney and Time Warner later acquiring stakes. The service offers on-demand television series and films, original programming and a live television bundle, with advertising-supported and ad-free subscription tiers. Hulu is headquartered in Los Angeles, with further offices in Santa Monica, New York City and Seattle. It earns revenue from subscriptions and advertising. Since 2024 it has also been offered as a content hub inside Disney+, and in international markets it has been presented as the general entertainment brand within Disney+. Its acquisitions have been small technology purchases supporting search, recommendations and video processing.


Founded

2007

HQ

United StatesLos Angeles, CA

Website

hulu.com

Status

Acquired

Customer focus

B2C

Revenue model

Subscription, Advertising

Revenue

$12B (Nov 2023)

Valuation

$15B (Apr 2019)

Hulu Acquisition

Hulu was acquired by Disney for $29B on 1 November 2023.

The acquisition price implies a 2.4x revenue multiple on $12B of revenue.

Before the acquisition Hulu had raised $583M across 1 funding round.

Hulu operates as a subscription video-on-demand streaming service offering general entertainment content, originals like The Bear, and licensed programming. The Walt Disney Company, which has managed Hulu since 2019 after acquiring a controlling stake from 21st Century Fox, agreed in 2023 to purchase the remaining 33% stake held by Comcast's NBCUniversal following Comcast's exercise of its put option on November 1. This deal stems from a 2019 agreement setting a $27.5 billion guaranteed floor value for Hulu, with Disney initially expecting to pay NBCU approximately $8.61 billion by December 1, 2023, adjusted for capital contributions and subject to a fair market value appraisal as of September 30, 2023. Disney completed the acquisition in 2025, paying a final $439 million for NBCU’s stake, bringing the total cost to about $9 billion and granting Disney full ownership. The strategic rationale centers on enhancing streaming integration by merging Hulu’s content with Disney+ and ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product, unlocking synergies estimated at $2.5 billion including $1.5 billion from subscriber retention and $700 million in ad revenue, plus $300 million from international expansion of Hulu originals via Disney+’s Star hub. This eliminates negotiation needs with Comcast, supports profitability goals amid prior price hikes in October 2024, and allows ramped investment in Hulu originals while reducing reliance on NBCU licensed content. The completion paves the way for unified subscriber experiences, new bundles, and potential price increases, positioning Disney to capitalize on Hulu’s prestige content distinct from family-friendly Disney+ offerings amid competitive streaming dynamics.

Hulu acquisition details
AcquirerDateTypePriceEV/Revenue
1 Nov 2023Strategic M&A$29B2.4x

Sources: cnbc.com, sec.gov

Hulu Valuation

Hulu is currently valued at $15B, based on its secondary sale in April 2019. Read the announcement ↗

The $1.4B round included Disney and NBCUniversal.

Hulu's valuation has grown 2.6x from $5.8B at its undisclosed-stage round in August 2016 to $15B in April 2019, across 2 priced rounds.

Hulu valuation by funding round

Hulu valuation by funding round
DateStageValuation
Apr 2019Secondary$15B
Aug 2016Undisclosed stage$5.8B

Hulu Funding History

Hulu has raised a total of $583M across 1 funding round, plus 1 secondary share sale.

Hulu funding rounds

Hulu funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
Apr 2019SecondaryDisney; NBCUniversal$1.4B$15BOn April 15, 2019 AT&T sold the 9.5% interest in Hulu that it had inherited through its 2018 purchase of Time Warner, receiving $1.43 billion and valuing the streaming service at $15 billion. Time Warner had paid $583 million for the 10% stake in August 2016, so AT&T roughly tripled the investment in under three years. The exit came as AT&T's WarnerMedia prepared its own direct-to-consumer service, later launched as HBO Max, and a month after Disney had taken majority control of Hulu through the 21st Century Fox acquisition. The $15 billion mark was well above the $9.26 billion valuation Disney had disclosed in late 2018. Hulu was founded in 2007 as a joint venture of NBCUniversal, News Corporation and, later, Disney and Time Warner, and by early 2019 had more than 25 million US subscribers to its on-demand and live-TV services. In May 2019 Disney assumed full operational control and agreed a put/call arrangement under which it bought out Comcast in 2023.
Aug 2016Undisclosed stageWarnerMedia (lead)$583M$5.8BHulu, a US-based television streaming platform founded in 2006 by News Corp and NBC Universal and launched in 2008, provides monthly subscribers with on-demand streaming of television programming and films. In August 2016, Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) invested $583 million in cash to acquire a 10% stake in Hulu, valuing the company at $5.83 billion post-money. This valuation was approximately three times Hulu's last funding round valuation from 2012, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal. Prior to the deal, Hulu was jointly owned by Walt Disney, Comcast, and 21st Century Fox, each holding about 30%. The investment did not include a board seat for Time Warner. In addition to the equity stake, Time Warner agreed to supply content from its channels, including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TruTV, Boomerang, and Turner Classic Movies, for Hulu's planned live streaming service launching in early 2017. Hulu's CEO Mike Hopkins described the investment as a major step in redefining television for consumers and advertisers, building on an existing relationship that included past seasons of Turner shows on Hulu's subscription video-on-demand offerings. The live streaming feature positioned Hulu to compete with established cable networks by enabling live online viewing of cable channels.

Who has invested in Hulu?

3 investors have backed Hulu across its funding rounds, including Disney, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia.

Lead investors include WarnerMedia.


Hulu Investors

Investors in Hulu by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
DisneyUnited StatesLos Angeles, CA1ParticipantApr 2019

This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 3 Hulu investors.

Start Free Trial

Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples

Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.

Start Free Trial

Acquisitions by Hulu

Hulu has acquired 1 company to date.

Last acquisition by Hulu was on November 15th 2016. Hulu acquired The Video Genome Project for undisclosed valuation.


Latest Acquisitions by Hulu

The Video Genome Project
Description
The Video Genome Project is a San Francisco-based initiative creating a structured database of video metadata by crowdsourcing annotations from 100,000 contributors. It catalogs 10 million videos with tags for scenes, objects, emotions, and brands, enabling AI training for content recommendation and search.
HQ CountryUnited States
HQ City
Los Angeles, CA
Deal Date15 Nov 2016
Valuationundisclosed
EV/Revenue
EV/EBITDA

This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Hulu acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples.

Start Free Trial

Hulu Competitors

Hulu competitors include listed companies like Comcast and Saregama India, and private ones like Epic Games, Labs, Kakao Entertainment and Patreon.

Public and private companies comparable to Hulu
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
Epic GamesUnited StatesCary, NCPrivate$5.7B$730M$23B3.9x
LabsUnited StatesSanta MonicaPrivate--$10B-
ComcastUnited StatesUnited StatesPublicly listed$124B$46B$87B1.4x
Kakao EntertainmentSouth KoreaSeongnamPrivate$1.2B-$7B5.8x
PatreonUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate$80M-$4B50.0x
Saregama IndiaIndiaIndiaPublicly listed$101M$37M$1.3B10.5x

Hulu Public Comps

Hulu is no longer listed, but its public comps include EchoStar, Baidu, Roku, Fox Corporation, News Corp, Sirius XM, Arashi Vision, Bilibili, NetEase Cloud Music and NetEase.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
EchoStar$15B($16B)1.6x1.8x(1.5x)10.6x
Baidu$19B$3.3B1.2x1.2x6.8x7.3x
Roku$4.7B$436M4.6x3.9x49.5x28.2x
Fox Corporation$17B$3B2.3x2.3x13.3x9.8x
News Corp$9B$1.5B1.8x1.8x11.0x9.8x
Sirius XM$8.6B$2.1B2.3x2.3x9.5x7.5x
Arashi Vision$1.5B$135M4.3x3.1x47.0x109.4x
Bilibili$4.6B$467M0.8x0.7x7.7x5.6x

This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Hulu competitors and their valuation data.

Start Free Trial

Common questions about Hulu

When was Hulu founded?Hulu was founded in 2007.
Where is Hulu headquartered?Hulu is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Is Hulu publicly listed?No, Hulu was acquired by Disney in November 2023.
Who acquired Hulu?Hulu was acquired by Disney in November 2023.
How much was Hulu acquired for?Hulu was acquired for $29B in November 2023, a 2.4x revenue multiple.
What is Hulu's valuation?Hulu was last valued at $15B in its secondary sale in April 2019.
How much funding has Hulu raised?Hulu has raised $583M across 1 funding round.
What was Hulu's last funding round?Hulu's last funding round was a $583M undisclosed-stage round in August 2016, led by WarnerMedia.
Who are Hulu's investors?Hulu's investors include Disney, WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal.
Which companies are comparable to Hulu?Companies comparable to Hulu include Epic Games, Labs, Comcast, Kakao Entertainment, Patreon and Saregama India.
How many companies has Hulu acquired?Hulu has acquired 1 company, including The Video Genome Project.

See companies similar to Hulu

Start Your
Free Trial Today

Try Multiples for free for 3 days. Got questions or need a demo? Schedule a call with us below.

Start Trial