Witherspoon and Mediawan to acquire Hello Sunshine, sold for a reported $900 million

On 14 October 2026, Reese Witherspoon and the French media conglomerate Mediawan were reported to be buying Hello Sunshine from Candle Media. Witherspoon founded the company, which was sold in August 2021 for a reported $900 million. The price of the 2026 transaction has not been disclosed.

Hello Sunshine is home to television series such as Big Little Lies, The Morning Show and Daisy Jones & The Six, and to Reese’s Book Club, according to Gibson Dunn. The deal brings the company into Mediawan’s group of creative companies, which Advanced Television says has nearly 100 production labels.

The 2021 sale: $900 million, part cash and part equity

On 2 August 2021, Tubefilter reported that a soon-to-be-established media venture backed by Blackstone Group had bought Hello Sunshine. The venture was to be led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, and Mayer had briefly served as TikTok’s CEO. Citing The Wall Street Journal, Tubefilter reported the price as $900 million. A sale had earlier been reported to be in the works, Tubefilter added.

Of the $900 million, $500 million was paid in cash to existing investors, including AT&T and Emerson Collective. The rest was paid in equity stakes in the new company. Blackstone was reported to want an independent entertainment firm that licenses programming to studios, networks and streaming services.

Hello Sunshine was expected to be profitable that year, according to the same report. Its known series included Big Little Lies, Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show, and it ran a book club and a kids and animation division.

Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden were to join the new company’s board while continuing to lead Hello Sunshine. Witherspoon said the move meant that women’s stories matter. Mayer told the Journal that the big companies were not licensing content outside their “closed walled gardens.”

The 2021 price
In August 2021, a Blackstone-backed venture led by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs bought Hello Sunshine for a reported $900 million, with $500 million paid in cash to existing investors, according to The Wall Street Journal as cited by Tubefilter.

A 2025 review of options for Hello Sunshine

In March 2025, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Blackstone and Candle Media executives were considering options to give Hello Sunshine greater scope and scale, such as combining it with another studio. A Candle Media spokesperson declined to comment on deal speculation but said the company regularly explores strategic opportunities.

Sources cautioned that Blackstone was not actively soliciting offers, and one said that in a period of media consolidation “every single independent studio is looking to pick a dance partner.”

Blackstone, the private equity firm behind Candle Media, had run a strategic review of all Candle Media businesses, according to the sources, and decided to sell ATTN after prospective buyers made inquiries. Candle Media had acquired ATTN in May 2022 for $100 million, according to its profile. The report also covered Netflix’s first subscriber loss in a decade, in April 2022, and the 2023 Hollywood strikes, which halted production for six months.

The report said Hello Sunshine was expected to release nine projects in 2025, including Amazon’s You’re Cordially Invited, starring Witherspoon and Will Ferrell, with nine more entering production.

The same report listed related deals: RTL Group was exploring options for Fremantle, and ITV was in early talks with RedBird IMI about a possible merger of their studio businesses. The report gave the 2021 price as $900 million.

The 2026 partnership and the board seat

Witherspoon and Mediawan are buying Hello Sunshine from Candle Media. Gibson Dunn, which advised Mediawan, describes the transaction as a partnership between Mediawan and Witherspoon to acquire the company. Partner Sarah Graham led the firm’s corporate team. Partner Steve Tsoneff advised on entertainment aspects, and Dora Arash advised on tax.

Seth Rodsky, a Hello Sunshine co-founder, will join the board alongside Witherspoon and representatives of Mediawan. Financial terms have not been announced.

Witherspoon described Mediawan as a studio built around creators and called the move “a homecoming.” She also said the best was still ahead for the company.

What Mediawan brings: nearly 100 production labels

Gibson Dunn describes Mediawan as a major French media conglomerate and an independent TV and film studio. Advanced Television describes it as a global, independent studio that focuses on its creators, with production companies across the UK, Europe, the US and elsewhere.

According to its Wikipedia profile, Mediawan was founded in Paris on 15 December 2015 as a special-purpose acquisition company to buy media production and distribution assets in Europe. Its founders are listed as Xavier Niel, Matthieu Pigasse and Pierre-Antoine Capton.

It went public on 22 April 2016. It is organized into 12 divisions, including Mediawan Kids & Family and Mediawan Rights.

Advanced Television lists nearly 100 production labels, including Chernin Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment, See-Saw Films and Kinetic Content. The titles it lists behind the combined group include Adolescence, F1, Slow Horses, Call My Agent!, Love Is Blind, New Girl, The Greatest Showman and the Planet of the Apes franchise.

Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s studio, is one of its labels, and Mediawan holds a 60% stake in it, according to the same profile. Labels and acquisitions listed on the profile also include Leonine Studios in Germany, acquired in 2024, and Palomar in Italy.

Pierre-Antoine Capton, a Mediawan co-founder, said Hello Sunshine brings a distinctive creative identity and a direct audience relationship. Advanced Television gives his title as CEO of Mediawan Group, while Wikipedia’s profile lists him as president and Orla Noonan as CEO.

Peter Chernin, a Mediawan board member, and Scott Manson, Mediawan’s CEO in North America, described Hello Sunshine as the premier company for women’s storytelling.

The price of the 2026 transaction has not been announced, so the $900 million figure refers only to the 2021 sale.

Candle Media’s role in both transactions

Candle Media, a Los Angeles-based company co-founded by Mayer and Staggs and financed by Blackstone, began acquiring companies in August 2021 with Hello Sunshine, according to its Wikipedia profile. Advanced Television names it as the seller in 2026.

Candle Media’s other holdings include Moonbug Entertainment, acquired in November 2021 for nearly $3 billion, and Faraway Road Productions, acquired in January 2022 for an estimated $50 million. Faraway Road produces the Israeli thriller Fauda. The 2025 report put Moonbug’s YouTube subscribers at 270.5 million. The same report described Moonbug’s annual revenue as approaching several hundred million dollars.

Candle also holds a controlling interest in Hello Sunshine, with Witherspoon keeping a minority stake, according to the same profile. It also holds a minority stake of 10% in Westbrook Inc., the company founded by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

In July 2024, Candle reorganized its live-action properties under Candle Studios, which Sarah Harden led. Harden was Hello Sunshine’s CEO at the time of the 2021 sale.

What has been announced and what has not

The price of the 2026 transaction has not been announced, so the $900 million figure refers only to the 2021 sale.

The announced 2026 details are the seller, the buyers, the partnership structure and Rodsky’s board seat. Financial terms were not disclosed.

In 2021, Hello Sunshine’s CEO and its founder were to join the new company’s board. In 2026, Witherspoon is one of the buyers and Rodsky is set to join the board.

Photo: CaseyJNewell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons