Candle Media hires former UTA and FoxNext Games executives for senior roles

Candle Media, the Blackstone Group-backed venture from former Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has hired Brent Weinstein as chief development officer and Salil Mehta as chief financial officer.

Brent Weinstein

Based in LA, Weinstein, who will take up the role on February 1, and Metha, whose appointment was effective January 3, will report to co-CEOs Mayer and Staggs.

The appointments come after a number of acquisitions were made by Candle, which now counts Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, Moonbug Entertainment and Israeli production house Faraway Road Productions as part of its portfolio. The firm also has a minority stake in Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s company Westbrook.

In his new role, Weinstein will oversee new business development with an emphasis on social media, creator economy, e-commerce and Web3-centric opportunities.

Weinstein joins Candle from UTA, where he was a senior partner and served as the company’s chief innovation officer. His achievements at the firm include overseeing the development of its live events, podcasting, ventures, heartland and NFT divisions, and the creation, development and sale of AwesomenessTV.

Kevin Mayer

Mehta will oversee Candle’s overall financial operations in conjunction with the finance teams within each of its business units.

Mehta previously served as president of FoxNext Games and has also held a variety of divisional chief financial officer and senior operating executive roles at 20th Century Fox, NBCUniversal and ESPN.

Mayer and Staggs said: “We’ve known both Brent and Salil for many years and they are a fantastic addition to our core team at Candle. Each brings substantial experience and expertise, and they will be instrumental in facilitating growth across our portfolio of companies and helping us identify new investment and business development opportunities.”