Bidders vie for online video website Hulu

The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that several bidders have stepped up to vie for Hulu, an online video website that Internet pioneer Yahoo was said to be eyeing as an acquisition.

The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying that Hulu had several suitors, including satellite television company DirecTV and a partnership led by US telecom titan AT&T.

A Friday deadline had been set for submitting final bids for Hulu, which was launched in 2007 in a partnership between Comcast, 21st Century Fox, and The Walt Disney Company.

While it remained unclear how high bids had climbed, DirecTV had reportedly lodged an early-round bid of more than a billion dollars.

Hulu, which has been battling rivals like Netflix in the area of streaming video, generated some $700 million in revenues last year. It has around four million subscribers to its premium video service.

Hulu also has a free service supported by advertising.

Yahoo was said to be among early bidders for Hulu but it had not been revealed whether the California-based firm, which has been on an acquisition spree, is still in the running.