After more than two years of negotiations, Disney has now officially finalised the deal with Comcast to acquire NBCUniversal's (NBCU) stake in the streaming platform Hulu. Disney is paying significantly less than NBCU originally demanded.

Disney had already paid an initial amount of USD 8.61 billion to Comcast in December 2023 - this corresponded to a third of Hulu's minimum value of USD 27.5 billion set at the time. Last year, the two companies argued before an arbitration panel to determine the final price. The result was determined on 9 June 2025: Disney must now pay NBCU a further approximately USD 438.7 million. This brings the total price for the purchase to around USD 9 billion. This corresponds to a total valuation of Hulu of around 27 billion US dollars.

If the price had been based on the valuation of the bank commissioned by Comcast, Disney would have had to pay an additional USD 5 billion - a significantly higher amount.

Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed his satisfaction: "We are pleased that the matter has now been finalised. The acquisition of Hulu enables a closer integration of Hulu streaming services with Disney+ and soon also with ESPN." In this way, Disney wants to offer customers an unrivalled entertainment experience.

Comcast was also positive: Hulu has brought the company around USD 10 billion and created an important audience for NBCUniversal's content. The company wishes Disney continued success with Hulu.

Hulu was founded in 2007 as a joint project between NBCUniversal and Fox to compete against YouTube. Disney later joined in and acquired two thirds of the shares in 2019 through the purchase of 21st Century Fox. At the time, Comcast had committed to selling its shares within five years.

In May 2024, Disney and NBCU began a confidential arbitration hearing to reach an agreement on the value of Hulu. Various appraisals were used, some of which differed greatly from one another. Ultimately, a mean value was determined from the closest estimates, which now forms the basis for the final purchase price.

With the completion of the purchase, Hulu is now fully owned by Disney - an important step for the media group in the streaming industry.

Variety reports in detail.