Candle Media's Kevin Mayer eyes exits for Moonbug and other brands

What they're saying: "We had intended for Candle to be an integrated operating company with different audience verticals all approaching it in similar ways and it really hasn't happened," Mayer said at an Axios event on Tuesday in Cannes.

• "We're now more or less ... three independent companies now that are operating in different ways," Mayer said.

Catch up quick: Candle's three core companies are Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, children's entertainment company Moonbug and social publisher ATTN.

Zoom in: Moonbug, which creates and distributes "CoComelon" and "Blippi," could grow to become a bigger IP holding company, be acquired by an entertainment or tech company, or pursue an IPO.

• "It has the scale and the platform to extend itself to other audiences, older kids, teenagers. You can see taking the Moonbug model, YouTube-first and then multi-platform model, around that IP. We see that happening in a bunch of different verticals," Mayer said.

• Meanwhile, ATTN has leaned into its identity as a branded content agency. Mayer, who briefly served as CEO of TikTok, said one of its biggest clients is TikTok where they "make TikToks about TikTok for TikTok."
• Hello Sunshine has grown through a flywheel of products, services, social media, Mayer said, for its brands like The Home Edit.