Disney and Comcast remain locked in a dispute over what Hulu is worth — and Disney said it might have to pay up to $5 billion more to complete the buyout of NBCUniversal’s 33% stake in the streamer. Last year, Disney accelerated negotiations to buy the Comcast/NBCU stake in Hulu to take full ownership of the streaming service. In December 2023, the Mouse House paid $8.
61 billion to Comcast , which represented one-third of the $27.5 billion guaranteed floor value for Hulu that was set when the companies entered into their agreement in 2019. But so far, the two sides have been unable to agree on a fair market value for Hulu.
During the initial phase of the appraisal process, Disney’s third-party appraiser arrived at a valuation that fell below the $27.5 billion guaranteed floor value — while NBCU’s appraiser arrived at a valuation “substantially in excess of the guaranteed floor value,” according to Disney’s 10-Q filed with the SEC Wednesday. In May 2024, Disney and NBCU entered into a “confidential arbitration” to resolve the dispute over the appraisal process to determine the fair value of Hulu “in which the parties seek declaratory relief, equitable relief and unspecified damages,” Disney disclosed.
Per the companies’ agreement, if the two sides’ valuations were not within 10% of each other, the banks they enlisted for the transaction would pick a third firm to make another estimate, and Hulu’s final valuation will be the average of the two figu.