Hulu is reportedly in talks with Time Warner to sell a stake of itself that would value the company at $5 billion
The deal would make Time Warner an equal stakeholder as its current owners- Disney, Comcast, and Fox - and give each a 25% stake of Hulu, the report said.
Time Warner's deal would include both cash and licensing rights, possibly allowing Hulu to stream programs owned by Time Warner's network of channels, including TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, and HBO.
Hulu has been adding a lot of new content on its site lately. Just recently, it signed a $160 million deal for the rights to Seinfeld, while it made content deals with FX and AMC as well. It's also expanded into producing original series like "Difficult People."
This isn't the first time Hulu was involved in a rumored sale. In 2013, DirecTV was rumored to be acquiring the company, while Apple was also reported to be interested in bidding for Hulu's online streaming TV service in 2011.
By adding on another content provider like Time Warner on its ownership team, Hulu will be better positioned to compete against Netflix in the online video streaming space. Netflix shares closed down 3.5% Thursday, and about another 1% in afterhours.
But Hulu still lags far behind Netflix in its number of subscribers. Hulu Plus is reported to have about 9 million subscribers, while Netflix has more than 42 million in the US.