In a series of high-profile acquisitions, the Blackstone Inc. backed company Candle Media has bought a stake in Westbrook, the media company co-founded by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Run by two former Walt Disney Co. executives, Candle Media is Blackstone Inc.’s entertainment venture.
According to people familiar with the matter, more than 10% of Westbrook Inc. is being bought by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs for about $60 million.
Westbrook was founded in 2019. Over time, the company has backed projects like “King Richard” which is a recent biopic film on the life of Richard Williams, the father of tennis Venus and Serena Williams, and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” on HBO Max and “Red Table Talk” a Facebook Watch show which features Ms Pinkett Smith, her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris and her daughter Willow Smith.
About the partnership, Ms Pinkett Smith and Mr Smith told, they are pleased to join forces with Tom, Kevin and Blackstone to accelerate the company’s mission and grow the content pipeline, global expansion plans and talent network.
A series of acquisitions in recent months happened during the time of this deal for the venture. The firm said in November that they are buying Moonbug Entertainment Ltd. For about $3 billion. “CoComelon” and “Blippi” are hit children’s shows by the company.
It also said in August that the company is spending $900 million to buy Hello Sunshine, whose founder is Reese Witherspoon.
In August, Staggs and Mayer were planning to create a new entertainment company for the streaming era of Hollywood. However, for this new independent player, some media companies are reluctant to license shows and movies.
In recent months, Hollywood witnessed a plethora of deals because of buyers cashing in on the demand for films for new streaming services. The Journal reported that the South Korean media company behind the Academy Award winner “Parasite,” CJ ENM had agreed to buy a majority stake in Endeavor Content’s scripted entertainment business. The estimate was between $900 million and $1 billion in November
The entertainment company, SpringHill Co., co-founded by National Basketball Association star LeBron James also agreed to sell a majority stake. The business is valued at $725 million.
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