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Hulu’s change of heart hit suitors where it hurts the most — the pocketbook.
Last week, the owners of the streaming video service got cold feet and called off the sale process just as it was entering the final stages. By that time, suitors had shelled out an estimated $25 million in banking and legal fees, sources told The Post.
Besides crunching the numbers, bidders also provided detailed plans as they mapped out the site’s future. Those ideas are now in the hands of Hulu’s owners — much to the frustration of those involved.
The sellers — 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast — were represented by Guggenheim Partners’ Chairman Alan Schwartz, who was tasked with trying to soften the blow and patch up relationships.
Potential buyers included satellite broadcaster DirecTV and the Chernin Group, which partnered with AT&T on a bid.
Guggenheim Digital Media also made a bid for Hulu in partnership with private-equity firm KKR. Time Warner Cable is still in talks to take a stake in Hulu. TWC declined comment.
Sources say the bidders found out the sale was off Thursday night, just hours before an official press release went out on Friday.
Hulu’s cold feet — the second time in two years that its owners have called off a sale at the last minute — left suitors feeling more than a little confused.
“It’s one thing to lose a bid to someone else, but losing to no one?” said one bidder.
Last week during Allen & Co.’s annual mogulfest, DirecTV CEO Michael White, whose company was viewed as the front-runner for Hulu, was seen dashing out of the bar at the Sun Valley Lodge Thursday night with a stormy look on his face.
Comcast is said to have been against selling to rival satellite operator DirecTV, even though it has no official say in how Hulu is run as a condition of its acquisition of NBCUniversal.
Still, one source said no one should be too disappointed, because the owners made it clear to bidders that not selling was an option.