AT&T offloads Hulu holding to pay debt - Mobile World Live

AT&T offloads Hulu holding to pay debt

16 APR 2019

AT&T sold its minority stake in Hulu back to the streaming video company for $1.43 billion, as part of a plan to offload non-essential assets and pay down debt.

The operator’s 9.5 per cent stake in Hulu was originally purchased by Time Warner in August 2016. AT&T subsequently acquired Time Warner in June 2018 in a blockbuster $85 billion deal.

Comcast and The Walt Disney Company remain stakeholders in the video service, with the latter holding a controlling interest.

Hulu CEO Randy Freer said despite the sale, AT&T will “remain a valued partner to Hulu for years to come”.

AT&T’s decision to sell its stake comes as it focuses on slashing $171 billion in remaining debt from the Time Warner deal and its $49 billion purchase of DirecTV in 2015.

The operator said proceeds from the sale, as well as from “additional planned sales of non-core assets,” will go to pay down its debt.

During an investor conference in March, AT&T CFO John Stephens said the company is confident in its ability to “generate $6 billion to $8 billion” in total from asset sales this year.

Earlier this year, the operator also raised $5 billion from the sale of unsecured bonds to put toward debt reduction.

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Diana Goovaerts

Diana is Mobile World Live's US Editor, reporting on infrastructure and spectrum rollouts, regulatory issues, and other carrier news from the US market. Diana came to GSMA from her former role as Editor of Wireless Week and CED Magazine, digital-only...

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