Hulu, one of the world’s most prominent online television providers, is set to lose some of its most important executives in the early months of next year according to a statement released today. The company’s Chief Executive Officer Jason Kilar, will leave the firm in the first quarter of the year along with the company’s Chief Technology Officer Rich Tom.
The move was announced today, first in an email to the company’s staff, and then in a post on the company’s official blog. Both executives have been at Hulu since its inception in 2007. Various sources have pointed out that in recent months the video service’s financial backers have not been pleased with the executives.
Hulu is a joint venture, with funding and ownership shared between NBC Universal, Fox and Disney-ABC. It is one of the most popular content streaming service in the United States, but it does not operate outside of North America. The company has grown in recent years as demand for video streaming has grown, but it has failed again and again to offer the revenue that its owners are looking for from the venture.
In November, Disney-ABC announced that it had lost around $9 million during its most recent quarter due to higher advertising and programming costs at Hulu. The firm’s one third ownership of Hulu would lead to the assumption that costs had jumped by $27 million, with little in the way of revenue to off put it.
The departure of two of the company’s most prominent executives may not be a bad thing for the streaming service. Despite Hulu’s popularity, it is probably not doing as well as Netflix Inc. (NASDQ:NFLX), it major competitor, a service not backed by any major content providers.
Hulu is in for a change in the new year. The services users will hope that the already useful streaming service will improve in functionality and in features. The company’s owners, will hope for one thing and one thing only, a remarkable profit.
