Disney, NBCUniversal said to hit stalemate on Hulu valuation: report

Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), have reached a stalemate in how to value the jointly owned Hulu streaming service, The Wall Street Journal reported.

If the two parties are unable to resolve the valuation matter, it could wind up going to the courts to settle the matter, the news outlet added, citing people familiar with the situation.

Disney and Comcast did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the two companies were in talks to hire a third financial adviser to evaluate the worth of Hulu.

Disney announced in November that it would take 100% ownership of Hulu, paying at least $8.61B for the part that Comcast owns. Disney has already made the payment and the battle is to determine how much more, if any, Disney has to pay Comcast.

Hulu, which now has more than 50M subscribers, was initially set up as a joint venture between Disney, Comcast, Fox and Time Warner. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) eventually sold its stake, and Disney acquired Fox's media assets, which left Disney owning 67% of Hulu and Comcast the remaining 33%.

The two parties came to an unusual put-call deal in 2019 to resolve the joint venture by 2024, with a "floor valuation" for Hulu set at $27.5B.

The two companies agreed to offer their own estimates of Hulu's worth, and that they would hire a third adviser to settle the matter if their takes were more than 10% apart — something that has come to pass.

Disney and its representative J.P. Morgan have valued Hulu near the floor value of $27.5B, according to Reuters, while Comcast and its rep Morgan Stanley see the valuation at more than $40B.

Seeking Alpha's Jason Aycock contributed to this story.