\tAT&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.<\/p>\n
The operator\u2019s 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 [1] in a blockbuster $85 billion deal.<\/p>\n
Comcast and The Walt Disney Company remain stakeholders in the video service, with the latter holding a controlling interest.<\/p>\n
Hulu CEO Randy Freer said despite the sale, AT&T will \u201cremain a valued partner to Hulu for years to come\u201d.<\/p>\n
AT&T\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
The operator said proceeds from the sale, as well as from \u201cadditional planned sales of non-core assets,\u201d will go to pay down its debt.<\/p>\n
During an investor conference in March, AT&T CFO John Stephens said the company is confident in its ability to \u201cgenerate $6 billion to $8 billion\u201d in total from asset sales this year.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the operator also raised $5 billion [2] from the sale of unsecured bonds to put toward debt reduction.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/home-banner\/att-closes-blockbuster-time-warner-deal\/
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/att-makes-move-to-cut-171b-debt\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AT&T sold its minority stake in Hulu back to the streaming video company for $1.43 …<\/p>\n
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