Alex Cooper's Media Company Valued at $500 Million

A recent investment in the media company belonging to "Call Her Daddy" host Alex Cooper has valued it at $500 million, as the company prepares to expand into video and lifestyle content.

Hollywood talent powerhouse WTSL, led by top agent Patrick Whitesell, has made an investment of undisclosed size — funding that will allow The Unwell Network to expand its offerings aimed at Gen Z women.

Founded by Cooper and her husband Matt Kaplan in 2023, Unwell now encompasses dozens of podcasts, has produced several streaming series (including Netflix's "XO, Kitty" and a two-part Hulu documentary chronicling Cooper's career), and has staged sold-out live events.

In 2024, Cooper signed a three-year, $125 million deal to bring Unwell's then-five podcasts to SiriusXM.

Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" is regarded as the most-listened-to podcast among women worldwide, and has featured guests such as Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber, Simone Biles, and then-U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

More than 600. That's how many episodes of "Call Her Daddy" have been released since 2018.

Billed as a talent and production company, The Unwell Network is part of a broader Gen Z media venture by Cooper and Kaplan called Trending. The couple self-funded the venture and folded Kaplan's previous production company, ACE Entertainment, into Unwell. The company's first major creator deals were with TikTok stars Alix Earle and Madeline Argy, who went on to launch the podcasts "Hot Mess" and "Pretty Lonesome," respectively. Today the company employs talent drawn from Microsoft, Disney, Meta and Netflix, with a total headcount of roughly 100, and positions itself as prioritizing "creator-led storytelling" over "traditional top-down media."

Unwell hasn't been without controversy. The most serious claims surfaced in June in a Vanity Fair report, which included allegations from more than 30 current and former employees describing a hostile environment and toxic corporate culture. Staff described a workplace marked by "fear, anxiety and paranoia," alleging that Kaplan used abusive language, yelled at employees and made inappropriate remarks. Cooper, meanwhile, was accused of running a "mean girls" operation behind closed doors. The company also weathered a high-profile falling-out with Alix Earle, apparently rooted in a personal dispute, which spawned numerous cryptic videos online and even a parody on "Saturday Night Live." Talent representatives and industry insiders have also been critical of Unwell's contract terms, restrictive intellectual-property clauses and high turnover among executives.

Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" originally launched under Barstool Sports as a sex-positive podcast, co-hosted by Sofia Franklin. Franklin exited the show in May 2020 following a public contract dispute with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy and a falling-out with Cooper. "Call Her Daddy" moved from Barstool to Spotify in 2021 in a deal valued at roughly $60 million, then Spotify's largest exclusive deal with a female-led podcast. It now airs under a SiriusXM deal and is distributed across all major streaming platforms.

A former Forbes "30 Under 30" honoree, Cooper ranked 5th on Forbes' list of top content creators in 2025, earning an estimated $32 million that year. In 2026, she fell off the list.