Apple isn't buying Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine media biz after all

Apple "The Morning Show" (Image credit: Apple TV+)

What you need to know

After rumors that Apple was considering buying Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine media business, that now looks not to be the case.
A firm backed by private equity giant Blackstone Group looks to be picking the business up.

Following rumors that Apple was considering picking up Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine media business, it now looks like that will not be the case after all. Instead, a firm backed by private equity giant Blackstone Group looks to be the frontrunner.

According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the outfit that Blackstone is backing hasn't yet been named but it will be headed by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs.

In terms of the amount of money changing hands, $500 million in cash will be just the beginning.

Blackstone is spending more than $500 million in cash to purchase shares from existing Hello Sunshine investors, including AT&T Inc. and Emerson Collective, some of the people familiar with the matter said. Ms. Witherspoon and some Hello Sunshine executives and investors will roll over the remaining equity into ownership stakes in the new company Blackstone is forming.

Witherspoon founded Hello Sunshine in 2016 and it's the company behind Apple TV+ hit The Morning Show — a show that also stars Witherspoon alongside Jennifer Aniston. The entrepreneur says that she will "double down" on the mission to "hire more female creators from all walks of life and showcase their experiences."

Witherspoon's acting career is far from over, of course. The Morning Show has proven hugely popular among fans and critics alike, thanks in no small part to her place on-screen.

If you want to enjoy The Morning Show in style, be sure to check out our list of the Best Apple TV deals on the market today.

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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.