Within a week of buying Tumblr, Yahoo joins Time Warner in race for Hulu

The online video service, founded in 2007, allows users to watch TV shows

James Legge
Saturday 25 May 2013 13:05 BST
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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and Tumblr Chief Executive David Karp after Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, and Tumblr Chief Executive David Karp after Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr

After this week's acquisition of blog site Tumblr, Yahoo is reportedly moving to buy online video service Hulu, in what might be the latest tech bidding war.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the web giants submitted a bid yesterday.

Yahoo, which formally announced the $1.1 billion (£725 million) deal to buy Tumblr on Monday, has declined to comment on the reported offer.

Hulu is co-owned by Disney, News Corp and Comcast, and is also reportedly coveted by Time Warner, News Corp executive Peter Chernin, satellite operator DirecTV, talent agency William Morris and two investment firms: Guggenheim Digital Media and KKR.

Offering more than 70,000 full TV episodes, including the current seasons, it was founded in 2007.

Yahoo made a first unsuccessful attempt to buy the company in 2011, when Hulu had recruited Morgan Stanley to find a buyer.

The potential bidding war comes a day after the race to acquire the crowdsourced GPS app Waze hotted up with Apple, Facebook and Google all said to be in the running.

Other unknown companies are expected to be among the bidders, with the estimated price for the app currently “as much as $1 billion (£662 million)”.

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