Apple Considering Purchasing Reese Witherspoon's 'Hello Sunshine' Media Company

[MacRumors]

Reese Witherspoon-owned media company Hello Sunshine is considering a sale, and Apple is one of the interested parties, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Apple already works with Hello Sunshine on popular Apple TV+ series "The Morning Show," which stars Witherspoon. Hello Sunshine is also involved in several upcoming Apple TV+ shows like "Surface" starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "The Last Thing He Told Me" with Julia Roberts, and country music reality series "My Kind of Country."

Hello Sunshine reportedly began pursuing a sale in the last couple of months and has received interest from multiple suitors, one of which is Apple. The company could be valued at as much as $1 billion, due to hits like the aforementioned series "The Morning Show" and also "Big Little Lies" and "Little Fires Everywhere."

The production company is working with investment bankers to explore its options, and there is no guarantee that it will be sold, nor that Apple will purchase it.

If Apple does indeed purchase Hello Sunshine, it could ultimately be folded into Apple Studios, Apple's own production company that is involved with some of its Apple TV+ shows. Apple Studios is thus far working on "Surface," "Snow Blind" with Jake Gyllenhaal, "Emancipation" with Will Smith, and "Killers of the Flower Moon" with Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Article Link: Apple Considering Purchasing Reese Witherspoon's 'Hello Sunshine' Media Company

 

[Villarrealadrian]

Wow, worst news ever!

 

[newyorksole]

TMS, LFE and BLL are all great.

I honestly can’t even keep up with all the ATV+ happenings, but there’s a lot of good news. They’ll never be Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+ etc, but at least they have the money to invest in quality shows.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I wish the best for Reese in this regard. That would be a big pay off for her.

 

[Red Oak]

There is zero reason Apple needs to buy this. $1 billion? WTF. What a waste of money and time it would be

Apple already owns distribution rights to The Morning Show. If this production company has any great ideas, Apple can just license those

 

[A MacBook lover]

Apple has no eye for content. As evident by its anemic viewership

 

[turbineseaplane]

Great news for Reese!

 

[CWallace]

There is zero reason Apple needs to buy this. $1 billion? WTF. What a waste of money and time it would be

Apple already owns distribution rights to The Morning Show. If this production company has any great ideas, Apple can just license those

If another media company buys them, those "great ideas" will be on their streaming platform, not ATV+.

And "The Morning Show" and the other projects Apple has with them would very likely eventually be pulled from ATV+ once the current streaming deals for each expires.

So Apple spending $1 billion to buy them could be a very prudent purchase - they can certainly afford it.

 

[unQuestionable]

Apple has no eye for content. As evident by its anemic viewership

Idk y’all, the shows/movies on Apple TV+ are actually super high quality, and very good.

 

[anthogag]

Apple needs better scouts to find the more interesting media projects around the world.

Apple could put "Da Vinci's Inquest" on TV+. I've seen only the first 2 seasons of this show. For some strange reason the CBC will not put-up the other 5 seasons.

 

[tsa1]

Apple in the content market is like the rich suburban kid buying drugs and overpaying for them. Like, yeah $50 for an 8th I’ll take it.

 

[citysnaps]

Excellent news if it works out!

 

[Braderunner]

People watch shows. Not channels. Not sure why anyone would think that every show, on Apple TV, needs to be geared toward them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[incoherent_1]

Sadly, seems like this arms race for TV production companies won’t be ending any time soon. Eventually, however, something has to give. With billions of dollars getting thrown around like lunch money, there’s no way all of these streaming platforms will be profitable.

 

[Devie]

The morning show honestly really kinda sucked. It only got good recommendations because it was really the only thing on Apple TV when it came out.

Now if the morning show was about two competing morning shows battling it out. That could’ve been funny and interesting.

most of Apple TV’s content I have watched is mostly crap. The Servent I powered through and just nothing happened. Haven’t watched season 2 because season 1 was basically a cooking show with a baby.
Mythic Quest I feel like hasn’t found it’s feet. Season 1 was **** but season 2 I think tried to steer it in the right direction a bit more.

I have tried to watch a few more shows and can’t even get one episode in. I won’t be paying for Apple TV any time soon. But if I keep getting it for buying apple products then fine.

 

[Rogifan]

If another media company buys them, those "great ideas" will be on their streaming platform, not ATV+.

And "The Morning Show" and the other projects Apple has with them would very likely eventually be pulled from ATV+ once the current streaming deals for each expires.

So Apple spending $1 billion to buy them could be a very prudent purchase - they can certainly afford it.

The Morning Show is good but how in the heck is it worth $1B? That’s ridiculous.

 

[defunder]

“A fool and his money will soon part.”

 

[JMO1]

$20 million up front with a $980m earnout based on employee retention and 20 guaranteed hits?

I just can’t imagine paying this for a media company with limited back catalogue and no guarantee of future success (where employees can leave freely)

 

[cardfan]

Sadly, seems like this arms race for TV production companies won’t be ending any time soon. Eventually, however, something has to give. With billions of dollars getting thrown around like lunch money, there’s no way all of these streaming platforms will be profitable.

I say more steaming platforms the merrier. They have to compete and we win. I don’t think much of apples choices of content but hopefully they’ll keep at it. Or even get serious about it later.

 

[JippaLippa]

Just started season 01.
I'm at episode 2

 

[justin0712]

I say more steaming platforms the merrier. They have to compete and we win. I don’t think much of apples choices of content but hopefully they’ll keep at it. Or even get serious about it later.

It is a double edged sword. The more platforms, the more fragmented everything gets. Though it will keep prices in check.

I have given up! I sub and unsub Netflix every month or so. Hulu no ads I keep just to watch the Golden Girls.
Discovery Plus, I powered through some content, cancelled and then signed up this month again. By the time you figure out who has what, you are at cable level prices.

 

[garylapointe]

There is zero reason Apple needs to buy this. $1 billion? WTF. What a waste of money and time it would be

Apple already owns distribution rights to The Morning Show. If this production company has any great ideas, Apple can just license those

Anybody else could license them too, before Apple does.

are you certain Apple owns distribution rights free and clear, no royalties?
This way Apple owns it all.

 

[mannyvel]

"When all else fails, spend money." - every media person, ever.

Long as you keep 'em way off balance
How can they spot you've got no talent
Razzle dazzle 'em
(And they'll make you a staaaar!)

Ain't nothin' like OPM!

 

[CWallace]

People watch shows. Not channels. Not sure why anyone would think that every show, on Apple TV, needs to be geared toward them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"If all of Netflix's 15,000 shows were not geared for me, I would not keep them every time they raise their prices."

The Morning Show is good but how in the heck is it worth $1B? That’s ridiculous.

They're not paying $1 billion for just the "The Morning Show". Apple would also be getting the other Hello Sunshine projects are developing for Apple and could also be able to secure content Hello Sunshine has done for or is working on with other services (like HBO, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, ABC, DirecTV and others) once those deals run their course.

They would also gain control of the video projects Hello Sunshine does for FaceBook Watch and IGTV as well as podcasts they produce. Apple would also get right-of-first refusal to movie projects that Hello Sunshine owns the rights for.

All together, that existing and future content is likely worth $1 billion or more.

 

[ArPe]

All together, that existing and future content is likely worth $1 billion or more.

Maybe in long term but unless you have blockbuster hits like Titanic, James Bond and Marvel its not easy to make back 1 billion.