Hulu up for sale, Google bidding big against Amazon, Yahoo, Dish Network

Source: thms.nl/Flickr

How much is Hulu worth, now that they have over a million Hulu Plus subscribers? Reports range from $500 million to $2 billion. And anytime a company on the block gets in that high a price range, Google's name comes up. Does YouTube need a younger brother?
After Comcast bought NBC, on original Hulu backer, things got a little wonky about Hulu's direction. Differences of opinion with other Hulu backers Disney and News Corp. pushed the hanging of the "For Sale By Owner" sign on Hulu's door (Providence Equity also owns a piece). But they could change direction and decide to keep Hulu after all.
Besides Google, other bidders chasing Hulu are Amazon, Dish Network, and Yahoo. DirecTV reportedly took their bid back. Amazon and Google lead the race, since they have piles of cash, and Dish Network is still working on digesting Blockbuster.

Google and Hulu = greatness

Google is the best thing that could happen to Hulu. Not only for Google TV (which is incredible, despite its lackluster sales) but also for Hulu's expansion into international markets.
Alex Murphy on shashgear.com

Yes and if GOOG had that library they could offer a 'free' (with ads) equivalent of Netflix. Given the depth of knowledge they'd have on Googflix customers, the ads could be very unintrusive yet easily bring in $7.99 of revenue to Google each month.
Rurik Bradbury on allthingsd.com

Google buying Hulu makes the most sense! 1) Google TV 2) Hulu is run mostly with ads, and Google is the best one to help it further monetize it like that, and even make it free internationally. They have a lot of relationships with advertisers. 3) Social integration/Google+ Circles to better personalize your viewing experience. 4) Hangout viewing with friends. 5) Android - huge and rising platform for media viewing. There's no one out there, even outside the current bidding, that is a better fit for buying Hulu than Google.
George V on businessinsider.com

Google and Hulu = disaster

Google will strangle hulu to death. :(
The Total Creation on slashgear.com

Does anyone else see a future where google takes over the world.
Kevin Peavler on allthingsd.com

How would Google possibly integrate Hulu with YouTube? Or would it just totally kill it? It doesn't make much sense to me.
Matt Kroll on businessinsider.com

Not Google

I think Amazon would be the best fit, if they have all the books in the world, and all the music in the world, it seems like TV shows and movies is the logical next step.
Morgan Linton on venturebeat.com

Amazon all the way. Yahoo might be OK too.
dyinman on venturebeat.com

I think It's Google's long running piracy issues with.YouTube and indexing of torrents and illegal downloads that make media companies standoffish.
tastygoove on slashgear.com

If they sell to anyone, it would probably be safest to big content's interests in the hands of Amazon.
Spinchange on allthingsd.com

Yahoo is still in the bidding mix. Wonder if firing their CEO will make Yahoo management back off, or overpay to show the world they're still a player?