NEW YORK – Walt Disney Co. CEO Robert Iger said on the sidelines of the Allen & Co. gathering of media and tech moguls in Sun Valley, Idaho on Wednesday that the owners of online video service Hulu are “committed to selling,” Bloomberg News reported.
It was the first public comment by an executive of one of the Hulu owners since news emerged that the joint venture is on the auction block.
Hulu owners Disney, News Corp., Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners recently started a sales process after being approached by Yahoo about a deal. Some have suggested that they could simply look at bids, but not sell – a notion that Iger seemed to shrug off on Wednesday.
Iger declined to comment on the specifics of discussions or the possible deal timing. “I don’t want to comment on any aspect of the deal,” he said, according to Bloomberg. “It’s a good time to be in the content business though, the branded content business.”
Bankers for Hulu have met with Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and others that make up a field of about 10 potential interested parties. According to Bloomberg, AT&T has also been approached.
Analysts have said that a sale could bring more than $2 billion.
Spokesmen for NBCUniversal, News Corp. and Providence Equity Partners declined comment. A Hulu spokeswoman also had no comment.
