Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile sale to T-Mobile earns the actor over $300 million
- By Max Matza
- BBC News, Seattle
image source, Getty Images
Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds is the latest celebrity to make bank through smart investments that are a world away from his on-screen acting achievements.
The Canadian actor is set to raise more than $300m (£248m) after a US telecoms firm offered to buy a smaller phone network in which he owns a stake.
The co-owner of Welsh football team Wrexham AFC also sold a gin brand he co-owned in 2020 for a reported $610 million.
He also continues to appear in films as one of the highest paid actors worldwide.
The Deadpool star is expected to see a big payday after T-Mobile, the second largest mobile carrier in the US, agreed to buy a company in which Reynolds has invested.
Reynolds’ owner reported 25% of budget telecom firm Mint Mobile, which is included in the $1.35 billion deal with T-Mobile.
“We are so pleased that T-Mobile beat out a last minute aggressive bid from my mother Tammy Reynolds,” he joked in a press release announcing the sale.
Detective Pikachu and Green Lantern A-listers have been actively involved in Mint’s advertising campaigns through the company Maximum Effort.
Maximum Effort has also created ads for Peloton, as well as his gin brand, Aviation American Gin, which he sold to spirits giant Diageo in 2020.
In a recent interview for the Wall Street Journal, he described the company’s work as “quick advertising” – aiming to create short viral ads.
“Everything we do is junk. It’s fast, it’s cheap, character over spectacle,” he said.
Watch: King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla met Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at Wrexham’s track
Reynolds began his acting career in the 1990s and has starred in films such as Deadpool 2, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, The Adam Project and Free Guy.
He was the second-highest-paid actor in the world in 2020, according to Forbes, regularly earning over $20 million per film, coming in behind Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
In a 2018 interview on the daytime chat show Live with Kelly and Michael, he recalled his first acting job in 1991 as a teenager with a side job delivering newspapers.
He said the role paid $150.
“For me, I thought I was like a gay millionaire,” Reynolds said. “At $150 a day, it was like a dream come true.”
In 2021, he bought Wrexham United AFC with Rob McElhenney, the co-creator of the long-running cult comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in a deal worth $2.5 million.
The pair went on to make a documentary series about the team entitled Welcome to Wrexham.
In recent years, rumors have swirled that he might try to buy the Ottawa Senators hockey team.
Reynolds is one of many celebrities who invest in non-acting projects.
Ashton Kutcher owns a venture capital firm with stakes in Uber, Skype and Airbnb. Snoop Dogg and Jared Leto are both investors in Reddit, just to name a few examples.
Despite his fortune, Reynolds continues to act. He will star in Deadpool 3 alongside actor Hugh Jackman who will play the role of Wolverine next year.
