REESE’S ‘HELLO’ TO NEW FIRM
Ex-Disney execs buy star’s production co. for $900M
Reese Witherspoon’s female-focused production company Hello Sunshine has been sold for $900 million.
Known for hits like HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” and Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere,” Hello Sunshine was acquired by a firm funded by private equity giant Blackstone Group and run by two former Disney executives.
Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden will join the board of the new media venture and “continue to oversee Hello Sunshine’s day-to-day operations,” Blackstone said.
The ex-Disney execs at the helm of the new parent company, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, pursued Hello Sunshine as their first acquisition, Blackstone said.
Blackstone is spending more than $500 million in cash to purchase shares from existing investors, including AT&T and Emerson Collective, in a deal that valued Hello Sunshine at around $900 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
Witherspoon is rolling her equity into the new firm Blackstone is forming, WSJ reported.
The “Legally Blonde” actor called the sale a “tremendous” opportunity “to grow the next-generation media company.”
“I started this company [in 2016] to change the way all women are seen in media. Over the past few years, we have watched our mission thrive through books, TV, film and social platforms. Today, we’re taking a huge step forward by partnering with Blackstone, which will enable us to tell even more entertaining, impactful and illuminating stories about women’s lives globally,” she said in a statement.
“I couldn’t be more excited about what this means for our future. I am committed to continuing to create opportunity for filmmakers, authors and creators of all backgrounds and experiences to tell their stories in their own way, and to reach more audiences who will see that their stories matter,” she said.
She said Mayer and Staggs “are committed to helping our mission to empower women and the people who celebrate them.”
Mayer and Staggs called Hello Sunshine “a perfect fit” for their new company, which they vowed will foster “a uniquely creator-friendly culture that gives elite talent the resources they need to create and capitalize on their best, most inventive work.”
While at Disney, Mayer was involved in the company’s purchase of Marvel Entertainment and launched its flagship Disney+ streaming platform.
He left last year to become CEO of TikTok but resigned that post a few months later when the Trump administration ordered the social network’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell off its U.S. business.
Mayer and Staggs, Disney’s former CFO, snapped up Hello Sunshine amid a feeding frenzy over prestige programming after a tough year of pandemic delays and fierce competition among the big streaming platforms for subscribers.
The duo previously expressed interest in a deal with Westbrook Inc., the media company co-founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith, WSJ reported.
Hello Sunshine also is home to Reese’s Book Club, what Blackstone called “one of the largest and most influential book clubs in the world.”