Latest in Kevin Mayer

Candle Media Founder Kevin Mayer has set out his strategy to take advantage of the wealth of deep-pocketed new buyers, as he unveils a tie-up between kids powerhouse Moonbug Entertainment and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. He also sidestepped questions on Candle’s relationship with Will Smith and Jada Pinkett…

EXCLUSIVE: A restructure at the company behind Mipcom, Mip TV and associated markets is gathering pace and several people working on the annual TV industry events have left in the past few weeks. Deadline is aware of around half a dozen staff who have exited and were previously working mainly on the markets in areas…

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.  The acquistion had been anticipated and marks the latest expansion of the company into content in a handful of…

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. The deal, confirmed to Deadline by a person familiar with the investment and later announced officially, followed discussions of a…

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. The valuation of the deal, which had been rumored in recent weeks, was not specified in the official announcement, but people…

UPDATED with conference call comments: Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the company has hired Kevin Mayer to help guide its streaming strategy as the merger with WarnerMedia looks set to close mid-next year. Execs on a post-earnings conference are still working out what a combined offering will look like and said they…

Former Disney and TikTok executive Kevin Mayer invited the audience at today's RTS Convention in the UK to pitch names for his new, still untitled media company, which is backed by investment firm Blackstone. He might want to come up with one soon, as the outfit's high-profile acquisition drive, which has seen it…

Westbrook Studios, the Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith company behind Telluride Film Festival 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…

If you want evidence that DAZN is a disruptor, you need only look at two big plays it has made in recent months. In March, the global sports streaming platform unseated Comcast-owned Sky as the home of Serie A soccer in Italy. A couple of months later, DAZN repeated the trick, outpunching Sky again to land a…

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…

Kevin Mayer, whose long tenure at Disney culminated in the successful launch of Disney+, is joining sports streaming outfit DAZN as chairman. He replaces former colleague John Skipper, the longtime former ESPN executive who steered DAZN through launches in the U.S. and other global territories. Backed by billionaire…

Began hearing this last week, but the drums are beating louder that Scooter Braun is in early discussions to sell his business, Ithaca, to former Disney and Tiktok honcho Kevin Mayer, who has backing through Blackstone. This is one of three offers being mulled. Braun is the record exec, manager of Ariana Grande…