{"id":1360,"date":"2021-08-05T16:30:39","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T14:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/a2kadvisory.com\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2021-08-05T16:40:20","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T14:40:20","slug":"reese-witherspoons-hello-sunshine-sold-for-900-million-to-media-company-backed-by-blackstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/a2kadvisory.com\/fr\/2021\/08\/05\/reese-witherspoons-hello-sunshine-sold-for-900-million-to-media-company-backed-by-blackstone\/","title":{"rendered":"Reese Witherspoon\u2019s Hello Sunshine Sold for $900 Million to Media Company Backed by Blackstone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/i>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/i>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Courtesy John Russo<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Reese Witherspoon<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Hello Sunshine<\/a>\u00a0has been sold for north of $900 million to a media company backed by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group Inc.<\/p>

Witherspoon and Sarah Harden, Hello Sunshine\u2019s CEO, will join the board of the new company and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations. They will also remain significant equity holders.<\/p>

The\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0first reported the news of Hello Sunshine\u2019s sale. The still-unnamed media venture by Blackstone will be run by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.<\/p>

\u201cToday marks a tremendous moment for Hello Sunshine,\u201d Witherspoon said in a statement. \u201cI started this company 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\u2019re taking a huge step forward by partnering with Blackstone, which will enable us to tell even more entertaining, impactful and illuminating stories about women\u2019s lives globally.\u201d<\/p>

Hello Sunshine received interest from multiple private equity companies and streamers after it began shopping itself. At one point, Apple, which produces Witherspoon\u2019s \u201cThe Morning Show,\u201d kicked the tires on the company, but it\u2019s not clear how far the talks went. The sale of Hello Sunshine could spark a fresh wave of acquisitions of content companies, and comes as the likes of A24, Imagine, Legendary and Lebron James\u2019 SpringHill Entertainment have all explored possible sales. Mayer and Staggs have been at the center of this deal-making, engaging in talks with SpringHill and Imagine as they look to roll up several smaller media companies, according to knowledgable insiders.<\/p>

\u201cWe are thrilled to partner with Reese, Sarah, and the entire Hello Sunshine team,\u201d Mayer and Staggs said. \u201cHello Sunshine is a perfect fit for our vision of a new, next generation entertainment, technology, and commerce company. We seek to empower creators with innovation, capital, and scale to inspire, entertain, and delight global audiences with engaging content, experiences, and products. Our platform 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. We look forward to backing Reese, Sarah, and their world-class team as they continue to produce and identify dynamic, engaging content for years to come.\u201d<\/p>

The price for Hello Sunshine is likely to raise some eyebrows in the entertainment industry. The company has brand recognition and a valuable celebrity ambassador in Witherspoon, but it lacks a deep library of content and only became profitable in 2020. But a source close to the situation said the valuation was not off the charts and based on a reasonable multiple of the revenue flowing through Hello Sunshine\u2019s coffers. The company is poised to unleash a number of new projects and initiatives, including in the e-commerce arena that is a focus for the holding company of content-focused banners that Mayer and Staggs aim to build, with Blackstone\u2019s bankroll.<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled with this new structure and what it means for us going forward,\u201d Harden told\u00a0Variety.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cWe have an incredibly ambitious growth agenda ahead.\u201d<\/p>

Hello Sunshine was founded in 2016 as a joint venture with AT&T\u2019s Otter Media. It counts Laurene Powell Jobs\u2019 Emerson Collective among its investors. Blackstone paid more than $500 million in cash to buy shares of Hello Sunshine, according to the Journal. It\u2019s unclear if the pact and the valuation also encompass some kind of earn-out based on meeting certain performance benchmarks.<\/p>

Hello Sunshine\u2019s projects include the films \u201cGone Girl\u201d and \u201cWild,\u201d as well as \u201cThe Morning Show\u201d and \u201cBig Little Lies.\u201d It also has the popular Reese\u2019s Book Club. The company has recently moved into podcasting and into family entertainment \u2014 it has an upcoming slate of previously unannounced kids programming that it will produce for streamers.<\/p>

Hello Sunshine will still look to partner with outside studios and distributors on producing its content, meaning that the Mayer\/Staggs group does not immediately plan to deficit-finance its big-ticket film and TV productions. But more support from a parent company with deep pockets and a deep bench of industry experience in Mayer and Staggs can only help Hello Sunshine\u2019s goal of advancing the cause of inclusion at all levels of the industry, Harden said.<\/p>

\u201cI certainly would anticipate that all of the partners we work with now we will continue to work on,\u201d Harden said. \u201cFor us, we\u2019ll continue to focus on defining those platform-defining shows. And we\u2019re focused not just on what we do but how we do it. We\u2019re intentionally working to change and transform this industry, creating opportunities for creators who have been structurally sidelined for decades.\u201d<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Source : variety.com<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy John Russo Reese Witherspoon\u2019s Hello Sunshine has been sold for north of $900 million to a media company backed by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group Inc. Witherspoon and Sarah Harden, Hello Sunshine\u2019s CEO, will join the board of the new company and will continue to oversee day-to-day operations. They will also remain significant equity holders. The Wall […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,61,62,60],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-blackstone","tag-hello-sunshine","tag-media-company","tag-reese-witherspoon"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/a2kadvisory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Reese-Witherspoon-Hello-Sunshine.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/a2kadvisory.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/19539922-1637334246902-6294ae5e06f42-3-scaled.jpg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"anchor":{"key":"anchor","url":"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/a2k-advisory","label":"Anchor","class":"anchor","icon":"anchor.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-right-advice\/id1596929049","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"castro":{"key":"castro","url":"","label":"Castro","class":"castro","icon":"castro.png"},"deezer":{"key":"deezer","url":"","label":"Deezer","class":"deezer","icon":"deezer.png"},"soundcloud":{"key":"soundcloud","url":"","label":"SoundCloud","class":"soundcloud","icon":"soundcloud.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/1r3FwW7RFRGxZIoZOrQp70","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"https:\/\/youtube.com\/channel\/UCI4m4z0GcFZDCVk34Gbxoag","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/a2kadvisory.com\/fr\/feed\/podcast\/the-right-advice","embedCode":"

Reese Witherspoon\u2019s Hello Sunshine Sold for $900 Million to Media Company Backed by Blackstone<\/a><\/blockquote>