Joining at least seven other companies in the bidding, Silicon Valley giant Yahoo has reportedly submitted a bid for video site Hulu. Other bidders include DirecTV and Time Warner Cable. Hulu, which is currently jointly owned by News Corp., Disney and Comcast, has both a subscription and an advertising business.
While the deal is an effort to boost Yahoo’s video offerings, the company already has a respectable amount of exclusive video content. For example, comedian Jack Black is producing a Web series that debuted on Yahoo Screen in March. So, while Google has YouTube and Amazon has Amazon Instant Video, Yahoo is not far behind.
Yahoo has reportedly offered multiple amounts for Hulu, from $600 to $800 million. That price range is tied to the length of the licensing rights for content available on Hulu. Assuming that the licensing issue can be resolved, the big question for Yahoo is Hulu’s place in the market, where consumers already have access to TV Everywhere and Netflix.
Yahoo has been busy lately making acquisitions. It recently agreed to a $1.1 billion purchase of the microblogging/social media website Tumblr. While Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is determined to monetize Tumblr, it has struggled to generate revenue.
Hulu, on the other hand, had 65% growth in its advertising revenue last year. With the additional content it would get if its bid for Hulu is accepted, Yahoo could gain some ground on Google.
