Reese Witherspoon is reclaiming her own company. The Oscar-winning actress has partnered with Paris-based media giant Mediawan to buy back Hello Sunshine, the production powerhouse she co-founded in 2016, from Candle Media — the Blackstone-backed firm that scooped up a majority stake in the company back in 2021, according to Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, which all reported the deal Monday.

The terms of the buyback have not been disclosed by either side. Deadline reports that Hello Sunshine co-founder Seth Rodsky is expected to join the new board alongside Witherspoon and representatives from Mediawan, signaling the actress is set to reclaim real decision-making power over the studio that bears her creative fingerprints.

From Sale to Reversal

Candle Media, backed by private equity titan Blackstone and run by former Disney executives, acquired majority control of Hello Sunshine in a deal that valued the company at roughly $900 million to $1 billion in 2021 — a landmark payday that made Witherspoon one of Hollywood's wealthiest producers almost overnight. Since then, Hello Sunshine has kept churning out buzzy hits, from "Big Little Lies" and "Little Fires Everywhere" to "Where the Crawdads Sing" and "Daisy Jones & The Six," alongside Witherspoon's influential Reese's Book Club brand.

But cracks in the arrangement started showing last year. Trade outlets reported in early 2025 that Blackstone was quietly exploring strategic options for Hello Sunshine, including a possible merger with another studio, and that Candle had brought in investment bank Moelis & Co. to weigh its path forward. Now, less than two years later, Candle is exiting the asset entirely.

Deadline's report frames it bluntly, dubbing the development "Candle In The Wind" and noting the exit raises fresh questions about the five-year-old media firm's future.

One financier who spoke to Deadline pegged Candle's loss on the original investment at several hundred million dollars — an outside estimate, not a figure confirmed by either company.

For Mediawan, the deal is the latest in an aggressive run of Hollywood dealmaking. The French company has also snapped up Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment, Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment and the Oscar-winning banner See-Saw Films in recent years, building out a transatlantic production empire.

Neither Witherspoon, Mediawan nor Candle Media has issued a public statement elaborating on the motivations behind the sale beyond the trade reporting. Candle has previously said only, in response to earlier speculation, that it "regularly explores strategic opportunities" without commenting on deal specifics.

What's next: industry watchers will be watching closely for an official joint statement, any word on Hello Sunshine's in-development slate, and whether Candle Media — now shedding one of its marquee assets — faces further portfolio shake-ups in the months ahead.