Apple, the world’s second most valuable company, is currently in heated negotiations with Hulu for a possible acquisition. Hulu, a subscription-based service offering on-demand streaming of TV shows, videos, and movies, is a hot buy as numerous companies such as Google and Microsoft are trying to purchase it.
Microsoft recently informed Hulu that it would not be interested in any further discussions regarding a acquisition, after weeks of negotiations. This pretty much left Yahoo as the top contender to purchase Hulu, according to reports. But now, Apple is said to be making negotiations,.
“Part of the ecosystem of Apple’s future is to include more video. It’s something they are focused on,” said an analyst. If Apple were to acquire Hulu, it would give Apple a new subscription service and present a possible challenge to Netflix.
According to reports, Hulu’s price tag could exceed $2 billion dollars. Apple apparently does not make large acquisitions, if its biggest purchase of $400 million when NeXT Software Inc was purchased back in 1996 is any indication.
Hulu began “shopping around” when news broke out that it was up for sale and had discussions with companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AT&T. Yahoo, on the other hand, is very serious about the purchase and has offered $2 billion for the acquisition, as long as Yahoo gets to have exclusive rights to all tv content on the service for up to five years.
There are no specifics about what Apple and Hulu’s discussion consists of or how much Apple is willing to pay. Hulu has yet to issue a comment regarding this report. As this story develops, we will keep you posted.
