Reese Witherspoon and Paris-based content group Mediawan have partnered to acquire Hello Sunshine from Candle Media.
It’s the latest high-profile acquisition for the burgeoning Mediawan group after Chernin Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s Plan B, and See-Saw Films.
“Mediawan has built a global, independent studio by putting creators first. That has always been my vision for Hello Sunshine,” said Hello Sunshine founder Reese Witherspoon.
“I’m investing alongside Mediawan and joining Pierre-Antoine Capton and his teams because this is the perfect home for this new media landscape. It’s also a homecoming. Peter Chernin and Jesse Jacobs believed in Hello Sunshine from day one. I’m deeply proud of what our incredible team has built, and grateful to Blackstone and Candle Media for their partnership and unwavering support. The best is still ahead.”
Hello Sunshine co-founder Seth Rodsky will join the Board of the company alongside Witherspoon and representatives from Mediawan.
Mediawan said the the acquisition continued its strategy to create a powerful platform of creative talent by bringing together the best independent production companies in the industry under one roof while preserving the creative independence and distinct identities that made them successful.
Hello Sunshine joins Mediawan’s ecosystem of more than 100 production labels which also include Kinetic Content, Wiedemann & Berg, Palomar, Our Films, Drama Republic, Chapter2, Chi-Fou-Mi, alongside Chernin Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment, See-Saw Films.
The group’s shows and films include Adolescence, Backrooms, F1, Slow Horses, Call My Agent!, Apex, Miraculous, Love Is Blind, New Girl, The Greatest Showman, and the Planet of the Apes franchise.
“Mediawan has thrived by bringing together the best creative companies and giving them the resources, scale, and independence to tell great stories,” said Capton, co-founder and CEO of Mediawan Group.
“Led by a generational talent in Reese, Hello Sunshine has an extraordinary track record of telling premium stories through film and TV and forming strong connections with audiences through Reese’s Book Club. Bringing these creative brands together, giving producers access to a broader pool of talent, IP and resources, while preserving their independence is what differentiates Mediawan. It strengthens what we can offer both talent and buyers, and Hello Sunshine brings a distinctive creative identity and a direct audience relationship that makes the whole group stronger.”
Hello Sunshine launched in 2016 with backing from Chernin and Jesse Jacobs through The Chernin Group.
It has since has built a track record of premium film and television, including Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, Where the Crawdads Sing, Little Fires Everywhere, Daisy Jones & The Six, From Scratch and The Last Thing He Told Me.
Kevin Mayer co-founded Candle Media in 2021 as a followup to a lengthy tenure as a senior Disney exec and a conspicuously short one as CEO of TikTok. The firm launched about a year after Mayer was passed over as a potential successor to Bob Iger and exited the media giant. He then took the helm of TikTok but exited after just three months as the platform was being squeezed by U.S. government officials over its ties to China.
With private equity firm Blackstone providing the financial resources, Mayer reteamed with his longtime Disney colleague Tom Staggs and the pair made a series of aggressive investments. They acquired CoComelon producer Moonbug for nearly $3 billion and also gained a controlling stake in Hello Sunshine and a minority piece of Will Smith’s production company Westbrook.
The operating environment coming out of Covid changed significantly in subsequent years, mainly due to the evolution of streaming. When major players, principally Netflix, adjusted course to satisfy Wall Street’s demands for sustainable profit rather than subscriber growth and additional content, the belt-tightening squeezed suppliers like Candle.
While Witherspoon’s involvement and momentum as both star and producer made Hello Sunshine an appealing investment, the economics of the business grew more challenging due to ongoing changes in audio and streaming. Accused of overpaying, Candle pointed to Witherspoon’s social following and successful offshoots like her book club, but monetizing those got more difficult as Spotify and other podcast platforms reduced spending and streaming services also continued to get more selective.
Larger M&A priorities across the media business only increased pressure on smaller producers like Hello Sunshine, with Netflix and Comcast joining Paramount in pursuing Warner Bros. Discovery in 2025 before Paramount ultimately won the prize earlier this year. The resulting behemoth, Skydance, is expected to ramp up recent cost-cutting on the production and streaming side.
For Hello Sunshine, Reese’s Book Club will remain a core part of the company’s strategy and an important and unique engine for discovering and developing stories. For Mediawan, the combination creates a differentiated pipeline of IP and audience insight that can benefit its broader global production and distribution ecosystem.
Reese’s Book Club has become one of the most influential book communities in the world since launching in 2017. Reaching over 6.2 million readers through its social and editorial channels, the club has driven roughly $900 million in U.S. book sales, with more than 60 million copies of its picks sold in the U.S. and over 90 of its picks having reached the New York Times Best Sellers list.
Moelis & Company served as financial advisor to Candle Media. Candle Media and Hello Sunshine were represented by Kirkland & Ellis. Reese Witherspoon was represented by Latham & Watkins. Mediawan was represented by Gibson Dunn.
Dade Hayes contributed to this report.
