“I started this company to change the way women are seen in the media,” Witherspoon said, referring to the production company that launched series like “The Morning Show” and “Little Fires Everywhere.”
The deal with Blackstone “will allow us to produce more globally entertaining, impactful and enlightening stories about women,” she said in a statement.
The new company is led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs..
Its launch comes as Hollywood giants compete to expand their streaming services, with Netflix, Disney +, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video all starving for content.
Witherspoon, 45, with an Oscar for best actress for her role in “Johnny & June: Passion and Madness” (2005), has entered the world of production strongly in recent years, although she also stars alongside Jennifer Aniston in the Apple TV + hit “The Morning Show.”
The company is working on movies such as “Legally Blonde 3” and an adaptation of the best-selling novel “Where The Crawdads Sing,” which was chosen as book of the month by Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine book club.
Witherspoon will continue to oversee Hello Sunshine’s day-to-day operations alongside its current CEO Sarah Harden, according to a joint statement.
“We want to support Reese, Sarah and their wonderful team as they continue to produce and identify dynamic and engaging content for years to come,” said Mayer and Staggs.
Mayer and Staggs would be identifying new acquisitions of content creators to build “an independent and friendly home for innovative, high-quality and cutting-edge brands and franchises” to join an aggressively competitive market.
In May, Amazon agreed to buy MGM studios for $ 8.45 billion, leaving this American giant with an extensive library of content in the face of its ambitions in the streaming market.