Hulu's long-anticipated $200 million IPO is on hold as it looks at new pay products and other ways to raise cash, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Hulu backed away from the IPO, says the Journal, in part because it doesn't have long-term streaming rights to much of the content it currently streams.
The online video service had planned to use the funds from the offering to help it acquire additional streaming rights for content from other media companies, but now is considering going back to its current owners, News Corp., Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal and Providence Equity Partners for additional capital, the Journal said.
Hulu, which has said it's on track to bring in revenue of $260 million this year from subscriptions and advertising, more than double its revenue from a year ago, has been struggling to differentiate itself as other video outlets, notably Netflix, have continued to grow deeper content libraries and attract more subscribers.
It November, it officially rolled out its Hulu Plus subscription service, but immediately cut its monthly price from $9.99 to $7.99 to be more competitive.
For more:
- see this article
Related articles:
Hulu Plus drops beta tag, looks to expand subscriber base
Hulu CEO says 2010 earnings at $260 million
So long, Hulu, it's been good to know you