Netflix Shares Fall On News Time Warner Could Invest In Hulu

Shares of Netflix Inc. were down nearly 4% in late trade on Thursday, on news that rival service Hulu--a joint venture of 21st Century Fox Inc. , Walt Disney Co. and Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal --was in talks to sell a stake to Time Warner Inc. . The Wall Street Journal said the deal, which would involve a cash investment and content licensing, would make Time Warner an equal stakeholder in the Internet streaming service. The deal would value Hulu at anywhere from $5 billion to $6 billion, though it's not clear how much Time Warner would invest. Such a deal would help Hulu better compete with Netflix and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Instant Video. Shares of Netflix have more than doubled so far this year, up 123%, outperforming the S&P 500 index, which is down 0.63%.