Good News Network sold to a group including James Street, founder of Whalar

EXCLUSIVE: Good News Network, the digital publisher that champions stories of human progress, has a new owner. We can reveal that a newly formed holding company, GNN Group, has acquired the company for an undisclosed sum, and that Whalar Group co-founder and co-CEO and creator economy investor James Street sits on the board. Street will become a co-founder of GNN and […]

Exclusive: Good News Network, the digital publisher championing stories of human progress, is under new management.

We can reveal that a newly formed holding company, GNN Group, has acquired the company for an undisclosed amount, with Whalar Group co-founder and co-CEO and creative economy investor James Street on the board.

Street will be a co-founder and lead investor in GNN, and will serve as co-chairman alongside fellow GNN co-founder Anthony Samdani, who will lead the production unit, GNN Studios, and oversee original programming. Related News Skydance News: Firings and Donald Trump's Town Hall Interventions End News: The $110 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Explorer is officially closed

Stephanie Charris, who held senior roles at AOL, SnagFilms, Indiewire, ViewLift and Cricket Media, has been named CEO of GNN, and Gary Weiss-Corbly, who founded the Good News Network in 1997, will continue as the company's founding editor. Watch on Deadline

The Good News Network launched 29 years ago and has since focused on finding positive stories, while expanding into a daily game show, a creator-led YouTube channel, and film and television production. As its new parent, GNN plans to expand the business across all platforms with Street, which built Whalar's early creative economy business.

"The Good News Network has spent nearly 30 years giving people a reason to feel hopeful, and I wanted to be a part of what's next," Street said. "I'm excited to help GNN reach new audiences and make the good news journey bigger and wider. It's some of the most meaningful work I can do."

GNN cited figures from its Digital News 2026 report that 42 percent of people now actively avoid news, up from 29 percent in 2017, as audiences increasingly disengage from traditional news while still showing demand for positive storytelling across entertainment. United States, at 25%.

The company also cited the box office success of the feel-good sci-fi film Project Hail Mary. and income at faith-based Angel Studios as examples of the desire for good news content.

"There is real hardship in the world, and honest journalism should never shy away from that," said Weiss Corbally. But it happens every day and rarely gets the same attention. When hope becomes crowded, people lose the sense that what they are doing matters. We started the Good News Network in 1997 to tell the other half of the story.

A GNN YouTube channel has also been launched, which will be programmed by GNN Studios. The focus will be on inspirational content from creators, celebrities, athletes and entertainers. GNN said it will complement and enhance the work of other creators, not compete with it.

Street, whose Whalar business is built on creating creator-led businesses, will help GNN develop partnerships with brands to work with creators and their audiences on stories and causes, and provide advice on social media.

GNN Studios will also develop original programming, including YouTube native series, feature-length documentaries, movies and podcasts.

The studio recently produced a visionary feature-length documentary, Dream Fever, led by Samadani, which follows differently-abled singer Emmanuel Kelly from a shoebox in Iraq, where he was abandoned at birth, to stadium stages opening for Coldplay across Australia and New Zealand.

It is currently in post-production and more partnerships and projects are expected to be announced in the coming months.

"This demand is no longer theoretical," Sharis said. Studios and broadcasters have proven an appetite on a massive scale. What no one has done is made it into the daily news and media, which is exactly where the damage is done and exactly where people are paying attention every day.

"Good news has spent decades as something you program at the end of a broadcast," says Samdani. "We think of it as a category, and we plan to own it. The site tells the stories, Good News Break turns the habit into something you look forward to, the YouTube channel gives creators who already inspire millions a home that's built for them, and GNN Studios turns the best of it into programming that people actually pick up."

"Shining light on the best of humanity is the most underrated force in the media. It moves, culture opens hearts and minds. And it inspires people around the world to do good."

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