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Hulu Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Hulu was acquired by Disney for $29B in November 2023, a 2.4x multiple on $12B of revenue.
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
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
Website
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.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price | EV/Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov 2023 | Strategic M&A | $29B | 2.4x |
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
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2019 | Secondary | $15B |
| Aug 2016 | Undisclosed 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
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2019 | Secondary | Disney; NBCUniversal | $1.4B | $15B | On 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 2016 | Undisclosed stage | WarnerMedia (lead) | $583M | $5.8B | Hulu, 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
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Participant | Apr 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
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions 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
| 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 Country | |
| HQ City | Los Angeles, CA |
| Deal Date | 15 Nov 2016 |
| Valuation | undisclosed |
| 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.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $5.7B | $730M | $23B | 3.9x | ||
| Private | - | - | $10B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $124B | $46B | $87B | 1.4x | ||
| Private | $1.2B | - | $7B | 5.8x | ||
| Private | $80M | - | $4B | 50.0x | ||
| Publicly listed | $101M | $37M | $1.3B | 10.5x |
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 FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $15B | ($16B) | 1.6x | 1.8x | (1.5x) | 10.6x | |||
| $19B | $3.3B | 1.2x | 1.2x | 6.8x | 7.3x | |||
| $4.7B | $436M | 4.6x | 3.9x | 49.5x | 28.2x | |||
| $17B | $3B | 2.3x | 2.3x | 13.3x | 9.8x | |||
| $9B | $1.5B | 1.8x | 1.8x | 11.0x | 9.8x | |||
| $8.6B | $2.1B | 2.3x | 2.3x | 9.5x | 7.5x | |||
| $1.5B | $135M | 4.3x | 3.1x | 47.0x | 109.4x | |||
| $4.6B | $467M | 0.8x | 0.7x | 7.7x | 5.6x | |||
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
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