Hulu’s Media Parents in Talks to Buy Out Providence’s Stake

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Providence equity is in talks to sell its 10 percent stake to Hulu’s media company parents. Disney and News Corp. have been in conversations with Providence, and have a handshake deal, though the deal is not done—not yet even papered. Comcast is not participating in the negotiations, because the terms of its acquisition of a majority stake in NBCUniversal prohibited it from being actively involved in the management of Hulu. It’s unclear whether Comcast would be involved in this acquisition. (*Note Comcast is the parent company of both CNBC and NBCUniversal)

Providence is in talks to sell its stake for somewhere in the ballpark of $200 million—though my sources tell me it could be lower.

That would mean Providence had doubled its investment from 2007, and would give Hulu a roughly $2 billion valuation.

This deal comes after Hulu’s owners decided last October not to sell the streaming video company after it was on the block for months. The parent companies said that they simply found too much value in owning it themselves. And most of the bids didn’t come in higher than the $2 billion valuation Hulu reportedly was looking for.

No comment from Hulu, Providence Equity, Disney, News Corp. or Comcast.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: In the headline of an earlier version of this story, we misstated the progress of the talks.

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