Disney (NYSE:DIS) has grown into a media behemoth with an aggressive acquisition strategy for much of the 21st century. That strategy saw Disney gobble up extremely valuable brands like Marvel and Lucasfilm, which gave the media giant ownership of the Star Wars property. Needless to saw, those brands have delivered nice returns as Disney has dominated the box office through the 2010s and early 2020s.
On November 12, 2019, Disney launched its streaming service Disney Plus. This was designed to be its iteration of the “Netflix killer” that many analysts were trumpeting at the time. While Disney did not disappoint when it came to drawing in subscribers early on, it has not managed to dethrone Netflix. Meanwhile, the drawing down of the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to bring an end to the so-called “streaming wars”. Now, Disney, Netflix, and other competitors are trying to squeeze as much value as they can out of their current subscribers.
Last week, Disney announced that it would fork over $8.6 billion to buy the remaining stake in Hulu from Comcast. That gives Disney full ownership of Hulu and the ability to fully incorporate its vast content library into the DisneyPlus platform. Some of the most well-known original programming from Hulu includes hits like Only Murders in the Building, Fleishman is in Trouble, Reservation Dogs, and now The Great, which was previously an Amazon Prime original.
This move allows Disney to add to its already impressive content library. DisneyPlus lost a record 11.7 million subscribers in the third quarter, inspiring the company to increase prices and pursue a password crackdown like its top competitor Netflix.
