Kevin Mayer Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

UPDATED with official announcement: Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Blackstone-backed Candle Media has formally clinched its latest deal — for Faraway Road Productions, the company behind Fauda and Hit & Run. 

EXCLUSIVE: Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine is doubling down on podcasting.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe roll-up media venture led by ex-Disney execs Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer has set its next acquisition: Faraway Road Productions, the Israeli entertainment company behind Netflix series “Fauda” and “Hit & Run,” Variety has confirmed.The deal for Tel Aviv, Israel-based Faraway — founded by and headed by Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz (pictured above) — is the third for the still-unnamed company formed by Stagg and Mayer with the backing of private-equity company

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Blackstone-backed media venture has set its next acquisition, of Faraway Road Productions, the company behind Fauda and Hit & Run, Deadline has confirmed.

Genius Brands has tapped Disney and Goldman Sachs veteran Zrinka Dekic as its new CFO and head of strategy and mergers and acquisitions.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorRené Rechtman, CEO and co-founder of Moonbug Entertainment, was gearing up to launch an IPO for his 3-year-old digital kids’ content company.But earlier this year, two of his former Disney colleagues — Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer — came calling with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Blackstone-backed company has bought Moonbug Entertainment, producer of he popular Netflix children’s program “CoComelon,” it was announced Thursday.

The media venture run by Disney alums Kevin Mayer and Tom Stags and backed by private equity firm Blackstone has acquired Moonbug Entertainment, maker of popular kids shows like CoComelon.

Ellise Shafer administratorMoonbug Entertainment, the company behind the wildly popular children’s show “CoComelon,” has been acquired by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ unnamed media venture. Though the terms of the deal were not made public, Bloomberg reports that the pricetag was $3 billion.This marks the second acquisition for the former Disney execs’ company, which is backed by private equity firm Blackstone Group Inc.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorWarner Bros.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterWestbrook Inc., the entertainment company founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, has ended talks to sell to a new media venture backed by Blackstone Group and executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, sources tell Variety.The two parties began discussions in mid-September, Variety previously reported, with the former Walt Disney Co.

Twitter.Campbell has been with the company for four years. She was named president in 2020.Campbell replaced Randy Freer, who himself exited amid a reorganization last year that had consolidated the streaming service’s operations under Disney’s direct-to-consumer and international unit, which was then run by Kevin Mayer.

Naman Ramachandran Kevin Mayer, chair of live sports streaming service DAZN, has confirmed his ambitions of acquiring rights to the globally popular English Premier League (EPL) soccer championship.In May, rights to the EPL, worth £5 billion ($7 billion) remained with the existing trio of Sky, Amazon, and BT Sport and DAZN was not permitted to participate in the bidding process.Speaking at the Royal Television Society convention at Cambridge on Wednesday, the former Disney and TikTok top

Former Disney and TikTok executive Kevin Mayer invited the audience at today’s RTS Convention in the UK to pitch names for his new, still untitled media company, which is backed by investment firm Blackstone. He might want to come up with one soon, as the outfit’s high-profile acquisition drive, which has seen it secure a megabucks deal for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, doesn’t look set to abate any time soon.

for $900 million. Hello Sunshine is the production company behind HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere” and Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show” — all of which starred Witherspoon.

Westbrook Studios, the Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith company behind Telluride favorite King Richard and series Red Table Talk and Cobra Kai, has held exploratory talks with a number of potential buyers including the new venture led by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by the Blackstone Group.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaWill Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc. could become the latest celebrity-backed media company to secure a splashy deal.

Kevin Mayer, Tom Staggs, Jeff Sagansky and Faiza Saeed will join TheWrap editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman at TheGrill 2021, presented by WrapPRO, on September 29-30. “Acquire or Die: Navigating the Era of Mega-Mergers & SPACS” will address the explosion of Hollywood mergers and the ramifications of ongoing industry consolidation.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorThe $900 million acquisition of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine by private equity giant Blackstone is a big step toward the launch of a media holding company that will revolve around the three Cs: content, commerce and community.Disney alums Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs are guiding Blackstone’s investment in content ventures and will serve as co-CEOs of the unnamed holding company that will house Hello Sunshine and other banners.

Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine chief executive Sarah Harden will join the board of the new company and will continue to operate the business.

Reese Witherspoon‘s company, Hello Sunshine, is being sold for a huge amount of money.

Reese Witherspoon’s media company, Hello Sunshine (Little Fires Everywhere), has been sold to a firm backed by private-equity giant Blackstone Group, Deadline has confirmed. Terms are not disclosed. According to the WSJ, which first reported the deal, it values the company at about $900 million.

TikTok has named a new CEO and COO, calling the moves “a strategic reorganization to optimize TikTok’s global teams and support the company’s unprecedented growth.”

James Murdoch,Kevin Mayerand Bela Bajaria,Netflix's vp global television, are among the top executives joining the speaker lineup at APOS, Asia's influential media and entertainment industry conference. Run by regional consultancy Media Partners Asia, APOS is usually held at a high-end resort in Bali, Indonesia, but the event has pivoted over the past year to a series of online gatherings better suited to the restrictions of the pandemic era.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJames Murdoch, Kevin Mayer and Bela Bajaria are among the prominent executives lining up to speak at the upcoming APOS conference on Asian media affairs.The conference is operated by consultancy Media Partners Asia and has for several years been held as an in-person event in Bali, Indonesia.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorA special-purpose acquisition corporation targeting tech, media and telecom firms led by two former senior Disney execs — Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer — raised $350 million in its upsized initial public offering.The SPAC, Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II, is led by Staggs (former Disney COO) and Mayer (previously chairman of Disney’s Direct-to-Consumer and International and briefly CEO of TikTok) who both serve as co-CEOs and co-chairs of the board.

Entertainment finance firm Forest Road has launched its second SPAC with Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs as co-CEOs and co-chairs. Units of Forest Road Acquisition Corp. II started trading today on the New York Stock Exchange as the execs begin the search for a target company in the tech, media, telecommunications or consumer space.

Former Disney streaming chief and TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer is taking on another role in the streaming world. Mayer has been named chairman of the board of directors at DAZN Group, the global streaming sports platform.

Kevin Mayer, whose long tenure at Disney culminated in the successful launch of Disney+, is joining sports streaming outfit DAZN as chairman.

SEC filing Thursday night. Mayer and Staggs will serve as co-CEOs of this SPAC, with O’Neal as a special advisor.For the SPAC formed last year (Forest Road Acquisition Corp.) Mayer serves as a strategic adviser and Staggs as director and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Committee.