It was announced yesterday that T-Mobile will acquire Ryan Reynolds’s Mint Mobile in a deal estimated to be $1.3 billion. While Ryan’s take from it has not been publicly disclosed, analysed estimate that his share could be as much as $300 million, which isn’t bad after he bought into Mint in 2019. Four years, $300 million? I’m an idiot when it comes to finances but that qualifies as good ROI, right?
Ryan will stay on with Mint and T-Mobile in a creative capacity which says to me that his marketing firm, Maximum Effort, will likely continue to benefit from the partnership to promote Mint products and services, as evidenced by the announced video itself which was done in the most Ryan Reynolds way possible – the most irreverent way to confirm a billion dollar deal:
It’s multiple wins, then, across the board for him. And this is on top of what he did with Aviation Gin, which he sold in 2020 for $610 million and continues to have a stake in. There’s also Wrexham Football Club, which he bought with Rob McElhenney – the team had an exciting run in the FA Cup recently and seems to be improving in both performance and profile, and that’s a big part of the business too. Social media interest in the team has exploded as they’ve more than tripled (and more) their following and activity. That means Wrexham is more attractive to the audience, which attracts advertisers, which means healthier operating budgets, and so on.
And now Ryan apparently has plans to expand into another sport: hockey. He’s putting together a bid for the Ottawa Senators. As SportsNet just reported today from the National Hockey League GM meetings, Ryan’s is “not to be underestimated in the Senators sale process”:
“Initially, those around the NHL were excited about Reynolds because he’s Deadpool. Now, they’re excited because he’s Deadpool, he’s a smart businessman, he knows marketing and the “Wrexham Plan” would come to Ottawa with him.
He’s partnered with Remington Group. I’m not sure they had the highest bid, but they are competitive and determined. That’s what this round is for, to sort this out.”
As we have been covering then over the better part of three years or so, Ryan Reynolds is very good at business. I messaged this to Sarah yesterday and her response was: I maintain he’s a VC guy who stumbled into acting.
A VC guy who knows creative. Who understands storytelling. And who, so far anyway, doesn’t seem like a cutthroat f-ck? I mean, time will tell in terms of how Ryan manages “business” with creative and leadership integrity. But so far, his entrepreneurial image strategy has been first class, along with all the other moves he’s made offscreen. On onscreen he’s still really busy.
Deadpool 3 is going into production this spring. It was also recently confirmed that he co-wrote and will star in and produce a project called Boy Band which is about a boy band reunion. So he’s going to go from one of the filthiest superheroes to playing an aging boy band popstar…? I actually love that for him. I actually love that for us. I want to see that. They’re hoping to start shooting later this year or early next year. So I can’t wait to see who he gets to play the other boy band members. Can we come up with a wish list? Mine is: Idris Elba, Pedro Pascal, and Bradley Cooper.
Here are Ryan and Blake Lively out in New York this week.
