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Online video site Hulu, which has emerged as one of the most popular places to watch television shows on the Internet, wants to see whether Wall Street will tune in as much as the public.
The company — owned by media giants News Corp., NBC Universal and Walt Disney Co. and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners — is in talks with investment banks about launching an
initial public offering as early as this fall. The news was first reported Monday by the New York Times. A Hulu spokesman declined to comment Monday. Such a move would provide a fresh
infusion of cash for Hulu without requiring it to seek an additional handout from its corporate parents. Most of its corporate owners plan to retain their stake in the service. Although
Google Inc.’s YouTube continues to dominate Internet video in terms of audience size and time spent watching, Hulu has become the go-to place for watching TV shows online. Despite its
popularity, Hulu’s financial picture has been less than golden. In the spring, the company reported that it had pulled in more than $100 million in revenue in 2009 and expected to surpass
that milestone this summer. A stock offering would help the company generate more revenue to build its new $9.99-a-month subscription service, Hulu Plus, and compete with rival offerings
from Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The movie subscription service Netflix acknowledges that Hulu has been aggressively adding more television shows to strengthen its content portfolio.
But questions have been raised about the long-term commitments of some of Hulu’s owners. NBC Universal is in the process of being acquired by cable giant Comcast Corp., which has its own
online TV service, Xfinity. Xfinity’s offerings include “True Blood” and “Weeds,” and it requires users to prove they’re cable subscribers before they can watch shows.
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