The famous video portal Hulu, which according to some is one of the most successful web domains and properties, has been in the news lately. The famous video portal is developed by professed old media Inc. and indeed has made its mark in the online video industry. Well recently, Hulu announced that they are planning to raise almost $300 million from an initial Public Offering. These reports of Hulu going for an IPO were released by Reuters and have also been floating on the web as well.
Well, the service was pretty much criticized when it was launched first and online video giant YouTube was the first to criticize the service, rather employees at YouTube referred to the service as Clown Company which really showed that YouTube took Hulu for granted at that time. Hulu was formally launched in 2007 but now the company is a substantial name in the online video sites realm, and the company has a net worth of almost $2 Billion. Hulu since its launch has become a legitimate competitor to Google’s online video giant YouTube.
But, the race in the online video sites has changed dramatically from user generated videos to the streaming of exclusive serials and films. Users now prefer to stream films and online premium TV shows to their flat screen TVs in their homes, they no longer prefer just the online version of such mega video sites, and this is where the online video site Hulu has outpaced YouTube. One big name in online streaming is Netflix and statistics show that Netflix is the leader in this particular league.
Reuters has reported that Hulu will report a prospectus for an authorized IPO with a selected branch of Securities and Exchange Commission and could probably initiate the IPO in the first half of 2011.
The Hulu video service which offers loads of TV shows and a huge archive of movies was basically built by NBC Universal and the News Corp Inc. which are the parent companies of 20th Century Fox.