Kevin Mayer and Tom Stagg’s media company Candle Media has bolstered its executive ranks by naming Salil Mehta as CFO and Brent Weinstein as chief development officer.
The Blackstone-backed firm tapped Mehta, most recently president of NextGames, to oversee its financial operations. Earlier, Mehta was general manager of Walt Disney’s digital media, where he oversaw Disney’s ad-supported digital businesses, and before that completed executive stints at 20th Century Fox, NBCUniversal and ESPN.
Candle Media has been on a buying spree, snapping up Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, CoComelon producer Moonbug Entertainment, Fauda maker Faraway Road Productions and a stake in Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc.
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Weinstein most recently was a senior UTA partner, serving as the chief innovation officer and will focus on new business development, especially on digital platforms. Based in Los Angeles, Mehta and Weinstein will work with Mayer and Staggs to drive Candle Media’s strategic, operational and investment goals.
“We’ve known both Brent and Salil for many years and they are a fantastic addition to our core team at Candle,” said Mayer and Staggs in a statement. Before joining UTA in 2001, Weinstein was a corporate attorney.
“Kevin, Tom and Blackstone have an inspiring vision for leveraging the technology-driven convergence of – and significant opportunities within – content, community and commerce,” said Weinstein in his own statement.
Mehta first met Mayer and Staggs in 1994 while at Disney, and was also CFO of Forest Road Acquisition Corp, a blank check company led by the Candle Media principals.
“Tom and Kevin are simply the best at seeing around corners in this industry, and to be able to join them and Blackstone in their effort to build the modern media company is simply a dream come true,” said Mehta in another statement.
