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It's bizarre but it also makes sense if you think that Disney will have a brutal earnings year in 2020: 1) Coronavirus will probably result in a steep revenue/earnings decline for the Disney parks, and it will likely also impact merchandise production due to the outbreak across Asia, especially...

I think all of that is why NBCU is going for a free AVOD service that anybody with a pay tv subscription can use. They're just focused on making it a free ad supported service for those who remain in the pay tv ecosystem as I doubt they'll have many paid subs. Disney will be a market leader...

It's possible you're right, but I was talking about Comcast execs POVs. They've said repeatedly that they're skeptical that Netflix-style streaming will work for most companies going that route; that's why they're not going that route and just doing an NBC/Sky AVOD service that will be free to...

It's pretty simple, Comcast execs are bearish on the whole streaming ecosystem and wanted to lock in a good price on Hulu in case there was any kind of devaluation in the next couple of years. They see Netflix as trading at bubble valuations and were concerned that possibly Hulu might be as...

Yeah, gonna echo that this is a great deal for both sides. Operationally, Disney needed immediate control for international expansion alongside Disney+ so they can immediately start rolling both out and bundling worldwide. Comcast gets to keep selling content to Hulu while locking in a future...

Yeah that makes sense to me; I think having Hulu use debt to purchase out Comcast's share is the most sensible option given the lesser regulatory issues. Once it's consolidated, the debt becomes Disney debt so it's the same either way the purchase is made.

Yeah, sounds like Disney wants to roll Hulu out internationally alongside Disney+, probably would allow them to begin offering a bundle of those two outside the US pretty quickly too depending on Hulu's rights agreements and what content it could get internationally. I think a deal can happen...

Yeah, they're a good market news source, but they deleted the tweet so something makes me believe this might be premature. They likely got wind that Disney and Comcast are close to a deal and rushed to announce it. Either way, this means it should be close even if it's not quite done.

According to Marketwatch, the deal is done and Disney now has 100% of Hulu after acquiring Comcast's part. I'm looking for confirmation, but Marketwatch had a popup that said it was done.

I don't think it would mean that for a while probably. Comcast is content to sell NBCU content to outside programmers (i.e. Netflix deals for NBC re-runs as well as DreamWorks shows). From what it sounds like, Comcast doesn't want to be a minority shareholder still taking up 1/3 of the Hulu...

CNBC says that Comcast is discussing selling its share in Hulu to Disney which would give Disney total control of Hulu.

AT&T sold its 10% of Hulu back to Hulu (not directly to Disney apparently). Also, the valuation was $15 billion on the sale for Hulu's total value. This means that Disney should own 66.6% and Comcast should own 33.3% if the story is accurate.

I'd imagine that Rupert and his sons are much happier about getting out of the assets after hearing this news. But this does bring some concern to the overall price that Disney is paying for these assets. The sports assets in the US, Mexico, and Brazil are probably worth around $30-35 billion...

AT&T's Hulu stake comes with no board members or ownership say, so the ratio of control would remain 2:1 in Disney's favor even though I guess Disney would take 70% of the losses (or profits eventually) while Comcast takes 30% of the losses (or profits eventually).

Even if that's real, the problem is it's too easily worked around these days. Any corporate lawyer worth even a pinch of salt could work around such a loose clause like that. For example, if Comcast wanted to buy Sony Pictures from Sony with those restrictions, then Sony could spin out Sony...

I think there's little concern because the back-office warehouses and buildings will mostly be going right up against that. The main parks will be a bit further away from that.

USJ is around 25-30% of Universal Parks, so a heavy decline there would be more than enough to offset positive results in Orlando/Hollywood. Typhoons, heat waves, earthquakes, etc.; was a terrible quarter in Japan weather-wise. We'll see a better look at the business from Disney which isn't...

At this point, the Chinese just seem desperate to put pressure on the US any way they can. Problem for them is that they don't import from the US anywhere near what the US imports from them. So they're forced to try different tactics to put pressure on the US. I don't think they'll stop...

China halted the Qualcomm-NXP merger because they were worried about Qualcomm's dominance of smartphone chips and if NXP's automotive chips were combined with Qualcomm's mobile chips, you'd have a really strong semiconductor company across multiple platforms. As far as Disney-Fox goes, it's a...

That was probably Disney's plan; there was speculation in FT that Disney might sell of Sky's UK cable operations (after separating it from the main satellite business) if possible. Comcast might go a different route; given how Comcast itself was built, it probably makes more sense for Comcast...