Hulu  Hulu () is an American subscription video on demand service fully controlled and majority-owned by Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, a business segment of The Walt Disney Company, with NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, as an equity stakeholder. The service was initially established as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBC Universal, Providence Equity Partners, and later The Walt Disney Company, serving as an aggregation of recent episodes of television series from their respective television networks. In 2010, Hulu launched a subscription service, initially branded as "Hulu Plus", which featured full seasons of programs from the companies and other partners, and undelayed access to new episodes. In 2017, the company launched "Hulu with Live TV"—an over-the-top IPTV service featuring linear television channels. Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) later held a stake in the service. As of the first quarter of 2020, Hulu had 30.4 million subscribers. In March 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, giving it a 60% majority stake in Hulu. AT&T (which acquired Time Warner in 2018) sold back its roughly 10% stake the following month. Comcast, the only other shareholder, announced on May 14, 2019, that it had agreed to cede its control to Disney, and reached an agreement for Disney to purchase its 33% stake in the company as early as 2024. The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese words, "húlu" (葫芦/葫蘆), "calabash; bottle gourd", and "hùlù" (互录/互錄), "interactive recording". Individuals instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell, Peter Chernin, JB Perrette, Michael Lang, Beth Comstock and Jason Kilar. Hulu was announced in March 2006 with AOL, NBC Universal (now Comcast), Facebook, MSN, Myspace, and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners". Jason Kilar was named Hulu CEO in late 2007. The name "Hulu" was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live, with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their email addresses for the upcoming beta test. In October 2007, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, and later allowed users to invite friends. Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12, 2008. The first product to launch was the HULU Syndication network, which was designed and developed by the NBC Universal team from New York, on October 29, 2007, followed by the Hulu.com destinations site.