The Hulu Sale Is Off

After a billion-dollar bidding war, Hulu's owners—Fox, NBC, and Disney—have decided to keep the Internet TV network because they didn't get a good enough offer.

After a billion-dollar bidding war, Hulu's owners—Fox, NBC, and Disney—have decided to keep the Internet TV network because they didn't get a good enough offer. It's quite the conundrum: Hulu is too valuable to sell, but also so valuable that its owners would really like to sell it. None of the original founders are there anymore, and even CEO Jason Kilar has left. Plus, the three owners all have different ideas for what to do with the thing, making it really hard to develop the product further. But without a high enough offer, that is just what these three squabbling media giants will do, instead investing another $750 million into the site to "propel future growth." So, the next time they try to unload—and there will be a next time—the streaming TV site will be worth even more. And then, NBC, Fox, and Disney will want more for it. And then we'll be right back here again, won't we.

The owners had some supposed high bidders in the billion-dollar range, but apparently those bids weren't enough for what these media companies fancy a very valuable property. They had been hoping for figures in the $2 billion range, reports Variety's Todd Spangler, which was the company's valuation about a year ago. The final offers from the rumored suitors—DirecTV, the Chernin Group, and Time Warner Cable— tough, are not public. But in a complete turnaround, sources tell AllThingsD's Kara Swisher that these guys will get a slice of that money for new distribution deals.

This is the second time the media giants have attempted to offload Hulu, with no success.