Reese Witherspoon at the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, April 25, 2021.
ABC | Walt Disney Television | Getty Photos
A venture backed by Blackstone Community and led by entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs has agreed to rob a majority stake in Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but a particular person conversant in transaction told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin, it modified into as soon as valued at about $900 million.
This is the principle acquisition being made by the newly fashioned company under Mayer and Staggs, who’re every used Disney executives. The goal is to build an self reliant entertainment company for the streaming technology. In a wrestle for subscribers, many streaming products and companies are hungry for unique content material.
Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden will proceed to oversee its day-to-day operations and might perhaps well be a part of the but-to-be-named company’s board.
“Our platform will foster a uniquely creator-pleasant culture that offers elite capability the sources they want to form and capitalize on their most efficient, most inventive work. We survey ahead to backing Reese, Sarah, and their world-class team as they proceed to attract and title dynamic, taking part content material for years but to reach,” Mayer and Staggs mentioned in a originate.
Blackstone will exhaust $500 million on buying shares of Hello Sunshine from its most up-to-date investors in conjunction with AT&T and Emerson Collective, in step with The Wall Avenue Journal, which first reported files of the deal. Witherspoon and some Hello Sunshine executives and investors will shield possession stakes within the unique company.
“At the original time, we’re taking a nice step forward by partnering with Blackstone, that can also honest allow us to expose grand extra appealing, impactful and illuminating reviews about females’s lives globally. I couldn’t be extra by what this means for our future,” Witherspoon mentioned in a originate.
Hello Sunshine modified into as soon as founded by Witherspoon in 2016 to form content material centered on feminine voices. Its productions consist of HBO’s “Large Minute Lies,” Hulu’s “Minute Fires In each region” and Apple‘s “The Morning Describe.”
“Kevin and Tom and our companions at Blackstone search for what we search for – females’s reviews matter, and we’ve economic energy as customers, creators and substitute leaders. Their dedication permits us to double-down on our mission and our ambitious enhance agenda,” Harden mentioned in a originate.
Blackstone Community and Hello Sunshine didn’t straight acknowledge to CNBC’s query for comment.
Disclosure: Comcast owns a stake in Hulu and is the guardian of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
