As might be expected, Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, the former Disney execs who are acquiring Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine company in a $900 million deal, are bullish about their shiny new toy, the anchor of their as-yet-nameless Blackstone-backed media company.
“It’s not a production company, first of all. It is a pretty well-configured, multiple business-line company, and is really a next generation company,” Mayer explained in an interview with TheWrap a few hours after the deal was announced on Monday.
But outside observers of the deal seem to be split right down the middle, calling the acquisition of Witherspoon’s female-focused content company for a $900 million valuation either a “brilliant move” or a faulty equation that just “doesn’t add up.”
Why