Tom Staggs Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix has pumped billions of dollars into original programming — but overall, its library of older licensed TV shows far outperforms homegrown hits like “Squid Game” or “Bridgerton.”In 2021 on Netflix, “Criminal Minds,” the crime-drama procedural that aired on CBS from 2005-20, scored as the most-viewed TV show among U.S. streaming platforms tracked by Nielsen.The 12 seasons of “Criminal Minds” available on Netflix registered an estimated 33.9 billion minutes watched last year by American viewers, per Nielsen.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorSpotify is boosting its audio lineup for kids and families, including a new story-time show under an exclusive multiyear agreement with CoComelon, the YouTube children’s content powerhouse.The new “CoComelon Story Time” podcast — CoComelon’s first spoken-word original programming — will premiere Jan. 24 exclusively on Spotify.

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.

An investment firm backed by Blackstone and run by onetime Disney colleagues Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs has taken a minority stake in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.

A surge in demand for content, big companies shedding non-core assets and consolidation in digital media led to a massive rebound in entertainment M&A in 2021, ushered in by two landmark combinations in April and ending with an drumbeat of deals in December.

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.

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.

announced in August. “We really think that there’s the opportunity to pull together a really forward-looking independent content, technology and social commerce company that is built for where the marketplace is, and is going.

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.

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.

Hollywood and media industry financing sources have tended to be cyclical, with new money refreshing the old every few years. The current cycle of private equity investment, though, is bucking that history and could extend the M&A wave for years to come, dealmakers say.

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.

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.

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.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorDisney alums Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs are in the early stages of shopping for content companies to roll up into a larger operating company with backing from private equity giant Blackstone.

Weta Digital has tapped Ken Kamins, and former Disney COO Tom Staggs, and Google SVP Jeff Huber to its Board of Directors. The appointments comes as the Peter Jackson studio has offices planned in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The trio join Weta Digital board members Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh, Sean Parker, Joe Letteri and CEO Prem Akkaraju.

Entertainment finance firm Forest Road and a team of A-list media insiders from Tom Staggs to Kevin Mayer have closed a $300 million IPO of a new SPAC – a special purpose acquisition vehicle they’ll use to buy a private company in media, tech or telecom.

a filing with the SEC, Mayer will serve as a strategic advisor, Staggs will be director and chairman of the Strategic Advisory Committe and Salil Mehta, another former Disney executive, will be the Chief Financial Officer.O’Neal will also be a strategic adviser, as will producer Mark Burg.

Jill Goldsmith Co-Business EditorThere’s a SPAC born every minute – today a new one called Forest Road Acquisition registered with the SEC to raise $250 million and hunt for media and entertainment deals with executives and advisors from former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer and former Walt Disney CFO Tom Staggs to basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.SPACs, or special purpose acquisition vehicles, proliferate when there’s more money floating around than there are places to invest for various reasons —