Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds is known for his movies and his jokes, but he also had a major business win. In March 2023, T-Mobile announced it would acquire Mint Mobile’s parent company, Ka’ena Corporation, for up to $1.35 billion, according to Fortune. Reynolds held an estimated 25% stake in Mint.
How the $1.35 billion deal came about
T-Mobile announced the deal on March 15, 2023. T-Mobile said $1.35 billion was the maximum price, with the final amount depending on Ka'ena's performance before and after closing. About 39% would be paid in cash and 61% in shares. The headline figure was a cap, not a guaranteed payout. Other Ka'ena brands, including Ultra Mobile and Plum, were also included in the sale. Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim were set to run those brands as a separate business unit within T-Mobile. T-Mobile said it would leverage its supplier relationships and scale to help the brands offer competitive pricing and a wider selection of devices.
What Reynolds reportedly made
According to Gizmodo, Reynolds became a 25% owner of Mint in 2019. The deal was announced in March 2023, but it still needed regulatory approval, and T-Mobile completed it on May 1, 2024. Gizmodo, citing Wall Street Journal estimates, says Reynolds was expected to take home at least $300 million. That makes it a reported number, not an official one. Fortune noted that Reynolds appeared in Mint TV ads and promoted the brand to his millions of social-media followers; he remained a spokesman after the sale.
What T-Mobile and Reynolds said
When the deal was announced, Reynolds joked that T-Mobile had beaten out a last-minute bid from his mother, Tammy Reynolds. He said T-Mobile’s 5G network was a better fit for Mint. T-Mobile said it wanted to learn from Mint’s marketing, and Fortune quoted CEO Mike Sievert as calling Mint an incredibly successful direct-to-consumer business. When the sale closed, Reynolds joked about Gary from Finance, whom he called a real stickler. T-Mobile was the best partner to help supercharge Mint, Gizmodo says.
What it meant for customers
{{/usCountry}}When the deal was announced, Reynolds joked that T-Mobile had beaten out a last-minute bid from his mother, Tammy Reynolds. He said T-Mobile’s 5G network was a better fit for Mint. T-Mobile said it wanted to learn from Mint’s marketing, and Fortune quoted CEO Mike Sievert as calling Mint an incredibly successful direct-to-consumer business. When the sale closed, Reynolds joked about Gary from Finance, whom he called a real stickler. T-Mobile was the best partner to help supercharge Mint, Gizmodo says.
What it meant for customers
{{/usCountry}}Gizmodo reports the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved the deal just before it closed. That was after T-Mobile promised current Mint customers they would have 60 days to switch providers after the acquisition. The company also said it would maintain Mint’s $15-per-month offer for new and existing customers. T-Mobile also announced features like a “Scam Likely” warning for known scam callers, and expanded roaming in Mexico and Canada. Some critics had worried that there would be less competition, but defenders said Mint was already heavily dependent on T-Mobile’s network.
Other big deals in Reynolds’ career
Mint wasn't his first payday. Diageo, the beverage company, bought Reynolds' co-owned Aviation Gin for up to $610 million in 2020, notes Fortune. He also has a part ownership of the Welsh soccer team Wrexham FC and co-founded a digital marketing agency called Maximum Effort, which he later sold. It's one thing to be the face of a brand; it's another thing to own a piece of it.
Reynolds did both at Mint, and the reported payout shows how different those jobs can be. Young adults contemplating side projects or brand partnerships should never forget to ask whether they’re being paid to promote something or will own a piece of it. Just keep in mind that every deal has its own terms.