Editing Hello Sunshine (company) (section)

== History ==
Hello Sunshine traces its roots to Witherspoon's earlier production efforts. In 2000, she founded [[Type A Films]], which merged in 2012 with Bruna Papandrea's Make Movies to form [[Pacific Standard]]. Pacific Standard produced notable projects including ''Gone Girl'' and ''Wild''.

In 2016, Witherspoon parted ways with Papandrea and co-founded Hello Sunshine as a joint venture with Otter Media (a partnership between AT&T and The Chernin Group). The company launched with a focus on scalable, multi-platform storytelling centered on women.<grok-card data-id="16b9ed" data-type="citation_card" data-plain-type="render_inline_citation" ></grok-card>

Sarah Harden joined early as a key executive and served as CEO for many years, helping scale the business. In August 2021, a majority stake in Hello Sunshine was acquired by Candle Media (a new media company led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs and backed by Blackstone) in a deal valued at approximately $900 million. Witherspoon and Harden retained equity and board seats.<grok-card data-id="3b8e02" data-type="citation_card" data-plain-type="render_inline_citation" ></grok-card>

In 2025, leadership transitioned: Sarah Harden stepped down as CEO, with Maureen Polo (previously head of direct-to-consumer) promoted to the role. Lauren Neustadter serves as President of Film & TV, and Corey Shepardson as COO/CFO.<grok-card data-id="5e557e" data-type="citation_card" data-plain-type="render_inline_citation" ></grok-card>