LONDON & LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., the world’s leading digital children’s entertainment company, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by the newly formed media company, led by top entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by Blackstone’s investment capital. Moonbug founders, CEO Rene Rechtman and COO John Robson, along with the management team and existing shareholders, will retain stakes in the Mayer-Staggs-Blackstone-backed media company.
Founded in 2018, moon bug quickly built up a prominent global family audience through its hugely popular shows such as CoComelon, Blippi, Little tramp baby, and many more. Their content appears in 27 languages on more than 100 platforms around the world such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon and Sky. Moonbug’s shows promote healthy values like compassion, empathy and resilience to children around the world. moonbug CoComelon is currently the second most subscribed YouTube channel with approximately 120 million subscribers worldwide and the most watched children’s show on Netflix.
This is the second acquisition for Mayer and Staggs’ Blackstone-backed new media company, following the acquisition of Hello Sunshine, the mission-driven media company that puts women at the center of every story it creates, founded by Reese Witherspoon. The company is an independent, friendly home for creators of cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises. By bringing together elite talent operating at the intersection of content, community and commerce, it helps position leading entertainment companies for accelerated and sustainable growth in today’s market and beyond.
René Rechtman said: “John and I have created a category-leading, digitally-focused children’s entertainment company built on strong values and content focused on digital platforms. Our vision is to build global family franchises, which fully aligns with Kevin and Tom’s vision and experience. I had the pleasure of working with both of them earlier in my career and am thrilled to be reunited to build the next global powerhouse in entertainment. You couldn’t find stronger partners in our industry.
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs said:We’ve known Rene and his innovative team for years, including during our time at Disney, and they’ve built a perfect example of the type of category-defining company we seek to bring into our business. They know how to identify and support the brands loved by millions of families around the world. We and our partners at Blackstone look forward to helping expand Moonbug’s title portfolio and further expand its franchises across digital platforms and major licensing and merchandising channels.
Joe Baratta, Global Head of Private Equity at Blackstone, and David Kestnbaum, Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, said:We are thrilled to partner with Rene, John and the awesome team at Moonbug. They deeply understand the rapidly changing digital media environment and quickly established Moonbug as a native digital powerhouse in children’s entertainment. We are excited to help fuel their continued expansion in the years to come. »
Blackstone’s investment is made through funds affiliated with the company’s flagship private equity business. The company has made a range of investments focused on entertainment, digital and content across its businesses, including the global operator of child-focused theme parks Merlin Entertainment; leading water park operator Great Wolf Resorts; leading music rights organization SESAC; a music rights investment partnership with Hipgnosis Song Management; Its epidemic, which provides music to Internet content creators around the world; an important Hollywood and London workshop space real estate portfolio; world’s leading online genealogy platform Ancestry.com; and mobile online advertising platforms Vungle and Liftoff, among others.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Moonbug was advised on the transaction by The Raine Group LLC and Latham & Watkins, LLP served as legal counsel. Mayer, Staggs, Blackstone and their new media company were represented by Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal advisor.
About Moonbug Entertainment
Moonbug Entertainment is an award-winning global entertainment company behind some of the world’s most popular children’s titles. Moonbug’s lineup includes global thrills CoComelon, Blippi, Little Baby Bum, My Magic Pet Morphle, Supa Strikas, Go Buster, Playtime with Twinkle, Gecko’s Garage, ARPO and much more. Moonbug titles are available in 27 languages.
In just three years, it has become a children’s programming powerhouse with a library of over 550 hours of content, which is distributed on over 100 platforms worldwide, including YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Sky , Tencent, Youku and Roku. In May 2020, Tubular Labs named Moonbug one of the world’s leading digital children’s entertainment companies based on total minutes watched worldwide.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies in which we invest and the communities in which we work. We do this by using amazing people and flexible capital to help companies solve their problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, debt and public equity, life sciences, growth capital, quality opportunistic credit lower, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global scale. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
