(Reuters) - Walt Disney said on Wednesday it may have to pay up to $5 billion more to buy Comcast's minority stake in Hulu, if an appraiser were to agree with Comcast's assessment that the stake should be valued at more than $40 billion. Earlier this year, Disney and Comcast hired investment bank RBC Capital as the independent appraiser to resolve a dispute over how to value the 33% stake in the streaming platform, according to people familiar with the matter. Reuters was first to report in May that Disney and Comcast were seeking to hire an independent adviser.
The two sides have entered into arbitration proceedings to resolve the dispute and a final decision is expected in fiscal 2025. Disney and Comcast signed an agreement for Hulu in 2019 with an option strike date of January 2024, after Disney's $71 billion takeover of Fox's assets, including its minority stake in Hulu.
