Reese Witherspoon and Paris-based content group Mediawan have teamed up to acquire Hello Sunshine from Candle Media.
This is the latest high-profile acquisition by the fast-growing Mediawan Group, following Chernin Entertainment, Brad Pitt’s Plan B and See-Saw Films.
“Mediawan has built an independent global studio by putting creators first. That has always been my vision for Hello Sunshine,” said Witherspoon, founder of Hello Sunshine.
“I am investing alongside Mediawan and I am joining Pierre-Antoine Capton and his teams because it is the ideal place for this new media landscape,” she added. “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 yet to come.”
Hello Sunshine co-founder Seth Rodsky will join the company’s board of directors alongside Witherspoon and representatives from Mediawan.
Mediawan said the acquisition furthers its strategy to create a powerful creative talent platform by bringing together the industry’s best independent production companies under one roof while preserving the creative independence and distinct identities that have made them successful.
Hello Sunshine joins the Mediawan ecosystem of over 100 production labels which also includes Kinetic Content, Wiedemann & Berg, Palomar, Our Films, Drama Republic, Chapter2, Chi-Fou-Mi, alongside Chernin Entertainment, Plan B Entertainment and See-Saw Films.
The group’s shows and films include Adolescence, Behind the scenes, F1, Slow horses, Call my agent!, Summit, Miraculous, love is blind, New girl, The greatest showmanand 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 best-in-class stories across film and television and building strong connections with audiences through Reese’s Book Club. Bringing these creative brands together, giving producers access to a broader pool of talent, intellectual property and resources, while maintaining their independence, is what sets Mediawan apart. It strengthens what we can offer to both talent and buyers, and Hello Sunshine brings a distinctive creative identity and a direct relationship with the audience that makes the whole group stronger.”
Hello Sunshine was launched in 2016 with support from Chernin and Jesse Jacobs through The Chernin Group.
Since then, he has built a strong reputation for high-end film and television, including Big little lies, The morning show, Where the Crawdads Sing, Little fires everywhere, Daisy Jones and the Six, From Scratchhand The last thing he said to me.
Kevin Mayer co-founded Candle Media in 2021 following a long tenure as a Disney executive and a noticeably short tenure as TikTok CEO. The company launched about a year after Mayer was passed over as a potential successor to Bob Iger and left the media giant. He then took over as CEO of TikTok, but left after just three months as the platform came under pressure from US government officials over its ties to China.
With private equity firm Blackstone providing the financial resources, Mayer joined his longtime Disney colleague Tom Staggs, and the two men made a series of aggressive investments. They acquired CoComelon producer Moonbug for nearly $3 billion and also acquired a majority stake in Hello Sunshine and a minority stake in Will Smith’s production company Westbrook.
The operating environment in the wake of Covid has changed significantly over the following years, primarily due to the evolution of streaming. When major players, primarily Netflix, adjusted course to satisfy Wall Street’s demands for sustainable profits rather than increased subscriber numbers and additional content, restrictions constrained providers like Candle.
While Witherspoon’s involvement and momentum as a star and producer made Hello Sunshine an attractive investment, the company’s economic situation has become more difficult due to continued changes in audio and streaming. Accused of overpaying, Candle highlighted Witherspoon’s social following and blockbuster offshoots like her book club, but monetizing them became more difficult as Spotify and other podcast platforms cut spending and streaming services also continued to become more selective.
Bigger M&A priorities in the media industry have only increased pressure on smaller producers like Hello Sunshine, Netflix and Comcast joining Paramount in chasing Warner Bros. Discovery in 2025 before Paramount finally won the award earlier this year. The resulting giant, Skydance, is expected to accelerate recent cost cuts on the production and streaming side.
For Hello Sunshine, Reese’s Book Club will remain a central part of the company’s strategy and an important and unique driver for discovering and developing stories. For Mediawan, this combination creates a differentiated intellectual property and audience pipeline that can benefit its broader global production and distribution ecosystem.
Reese’s Book Club has become one of the most influential reading communities in the world since its launch in 2017. Reaching more than 6.2 million readers through its social and editorial channels, the club has generated approximately $900 million in U.S. book sales, with more than 60 million copies of its picks sold in the United States and more than 90 of its picks reaching the New York Times Best Seller list.
Moelis & Company acted 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.
Gn entert
