Candle Media (Blackstone)
A next-generation media holding company founded in 2021 by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, seeded with roughly $1B from Blackstone. Owns Moonbug Entertainment (Cocomelon, Blippi, Little Baby Bum), controls Hello Sunshine, and produced Fauda via Faraway Road. Restructured through 2024 as streaming spending cooled. In June 2025 Mayer said Candle would operate as a holding company and seek liquidity unit by unit; in February 2026 it sold a majority of ATTN: back to its co-founders, retaining a minority stake.
Channels
Cocomelon
youtube.com/@CoComelon ↗PE Kids 2021Owned by Moonbug Entertainment, which was acquired in November 2021 for ~$3B by Candle Media, a Blackstone-backed venture led by ex-Disney execs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Moonbug had itself bought the Cocomelon IP in July 2020 for $120M.
Blippi
youtube.com/@Blippi ↗PE Kids 2021Part of the Moonbug Entertainment portfolio acquired in the November 2021 Candle Media / Blackstone $3B deal. Blippi IP was bought by Moonbug in 2020 from creator Stevin John.
Little Baby Bum
youtube.com/@LittleBabyBum ↗PE Kids 2021Founding property of Moonbug Entertainment. Rolled into the Candle Media / Blackstone portfolio in November 2021.
Morphle TV
youtube.com/@Morphle ↗PE Kids 2019My Magic Pet Morphle, a shape-shifting-pet cartoon (~13M subscribers). Acquired by Moonbug in February 2019, one of its first deals, and now part of Candle Media via the 2021 Moonbug acquisition.
Gecko's Garage
youtube.com/@GeckosGarage ↗PE Kids 2019Truck and vehicle cartoon (~3.5M subscribers) from Toddler Fun Learning, acquired by Moonbug alongside Morphle in February 2019.
Supa Strikas
youtube.com/@TheSupaStrikas ↗PE Kids 2019Football-themed animated series (~3M subscribers). Acquired by Moonbug in August 2019.
ARPO The Robot
youtube.com/@ARPOTheRobot ↗PE Kids 2020Korean-origin robot-nanny animated series (~8M subscribers). Acquired by Moonbug in February 2020.
T-Rex Ranch
youtube.com/@TRexRanch ↗PE Kids 2020Live-action dinosaur adventure show (~3M subscribers) created by Aaron and LB, acquired by Moonbug in 2020.
Little Angel
youtube.com/@littleangel ↗PE Kids 20223D nursery-rhyme network (~88M subscribers across language channels) bought from Valnet in February 2022 — Moonbug's first major acquisition under Candle Media ownership.
Little World
youtube.com/@LittleWorld ↗PE Kids 2022Little Angel's sister kids-songs channel (~5.5M subscribers), acquired with Little Angel in February 2022.
Oddbods
youtube.com/@Oddbods ↗PE Kids 2022Non-dialogue slapstick animation (~12M subscribers) from Singapore's One Animation, which Moonbug acquired in May 2022.