Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile Being Sold To Massive Cell Phone Company?
Mint Mobile, which famously has Ryan Reynolds as a minority owner, is rumored to be acquired by T-Mobile in a multi-million dollar sale.
Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile company could soon be a part of T-Mobile. According to Bloomberg, the budget wireless company and T-Mobile are currently in talks for an acquisition deal. Both T-Mobile and Mint have yet to comment on the rumors.
Ryan Reynolds purchased an ownership stake in Mint Mobile in 2019, acquiring between 20% to 25% of the company. Reynolds has helped build the company’s brand by appearing in commercials and positioning it as a more affordable option than the major wireless carriers. It’s unclear if Reynolds will retain a stake in the company upon its sale or if he’ll be selling his stake and getting out of the company completely.
Interestingly, Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile already uses T-Mobile’s network since it operates as a mobile virtual network operator. A mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, provides wireless services but doesn’t own the wireless network infrastructure. If the sale goes through, it seems likely that it would be easy for T-Mobile to transfer Mint subscribers over to its network.
If the sale goes through, it’s also unclear if T-Mobile will retain the price structure of Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile service. The wireless carrier industry is already an oligopoly, so it’s hard to see this being too beneficial for those wanting to save money on their phone bill. The sale would certainly bolster T-Mobile’s subscriber numbers, but they would still be firmly behind the number one provider, Verizon.
The top three mobile companies in the US are Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T Mobility. These three companies make up the vast majority of mobile subscribers with 142.8 million, 110 million, and 101.8 million subscribers, respectively (as of Q2 2022). It’s estimated that Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile and its parent company, Ultra Mobile, have roughly two to three million subscribers in the collective network.
The rumors about the deal don’t specify if Ultra Mobile will also be part of the sale, or if T-Mobile is only interested in acquiring Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile subsidiary. It seems likely that T-Mobile would want to acquire the entirety of the company and its assets, but those details likely haven’t been ironed out yet. In 2021, Mint alone was up for sale for around $600 to $800 million, so this could definitely be a financially lucrative deal.
It does seem like it would be a sound business decision to try and keep Ryan Reynolds on the team if the Mint Mobile sale goes through. In addition to bringing tons of attention to the brand through TV ads, Reynolds also has 27 million followers on Twitter and 47 million followers on Instagram. The engagement from his social media posts alone is worth keeping the actor on any marketing team.
Of course, Ryan Reynolds may also just want to take his money and focus on his other business ventures such as Aviation Gin, FuboTV, and the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC. Reynolds also has his movie career to focus on, with numerous projects in the works. The most anticipated of which is the upcoming Deadpool 3, which will also bring back Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
