Hulu CEO to Step Down

by Christopher Freeburn | January 7, 2013 10:21 am

[1]Hulu is about to lose its CEO. Jason Kilar, who has led the online video-streaming service since its 2007 launch, announced on Friday that he’ll leave the company by the end of March[2].

While Hulu has attracted more than 3 million subscribers and posted $700 million in revenue last year, it continues to lose money. Sources told the Associated Press that Kilar sold his stake in Hulu for about $40 million late last year.

Disney (NYSE:DIS[3]) and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA[4]), which own Hulu, had considered selling the company in 2011, but ultimately decided not to.

Although initially free for users, Hulu introduced a $10 monthly subscription fee in 2010. That was later dropped to $8 per month, the same price as rival Netflix’s (NASDAQ:NFLX[5]) video-streaming monthly fee.

In addition to Kilar, Hulu’s chief technology officer and former Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT[6])  executive, Richard Tom, will also depart in March.

Shares of Disney fell more than 1% in Monday morning trading, while News Corp slipped fractionally.

Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: http://investorplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Hulu-630-speaker.jpg
  2. he’ll leave the company by the end of March: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HULU_CEO?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-05-10-09-06
  3. DIS: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=DIS
  4. NWSA: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NWSA
  5. NFLX: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=NFLX
  6. MSFT: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=MSFT

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