Candle Media acquires Faraway Road Productions amid buying spree
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Candle Media, a new media rollup company backed by Blackstone and led by former Disney executives Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer, has acquired Faraway Road Productions, the content studio behind "Fauda."
Why it matters: It's the latest production studio to be snapped up by the pair. They are looking to create a global media company via rollup brands that they can one day take public, per The Information.
Details: The deal will help Faraway scale globally, per a statement from Faraway co-CEOs Lior Raz & Avi Issacharoff.
- Although deal terms weren't disclosed, Deadline reported last year that the deal was worth less than $50 million in December.
- In a statement announcing the deal, Blackstone executives Joe Baratta and David Kestnbaum said "content creation is one of our highest-conviction investment themes, and we believe that elite talent like the Faraway Road team is exceptionally well positioned to thrive in today's increasingly global, digital media environment."
The big picture: Staggs and Mayer are on a buying spree. Last week, Candle bought a minority stake in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s entertainment company, Westbrook Inc.
- In November, it acquired Moonbug Entertainment, a UK-based digital content company that's home to the YouTube streaming hit "Cocomelon," reportedly for $3 billion.
- It bought Reese Witherspoon's production company Hello Sunshine for $900 million in August.
- The Information reported last week that Blackstone has so far contributed just under $2 billion in cash to Candle Media and that since last summer, Candle has used that money along with equity and debt to make "around $4 billion worth of acquisitions."
