00:00Ryan Reynolds didn't just act in movies. He made a fortune from a phone company.
00:05Back in 2016, a scrappy startup called Mint Mobile launched with a wild idea.
00:10Prepaid phone plans starting around $15 a month.
00:13Founded by wireless veterans David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim, Mint set out to make prepaid feel
00:18premium. No stores. No catch. Just a better deal, sold entirely online. For years, the big carriers
00:27treated prepaid customers like second-class citizens. High prices, confusing fees, loaded
00:32plans. Mint's pitch was simple. Champion practical wireless, and make going against the giants feel
00:39fun. So when Reynolds bought in, he bought more than shares. He bought a bigger voice in how the
00:44brand talked to the world. Then, November 2019, Ryan Reynolds did something very un-Hollywood.
00:50He bought a serious stake in the company. Around 25%. And he didn't just sign on as a
00:57celebrity face. He became the brand. Through his ad agency, Maximum Effort, he wrote and starred in
01:03Mint's own commercials. Dry, self-aware, endlessly memeable. He built an icon around the brand.
01:10The internet loved it. Mint's subscriber count reportedly grew about 50% every year for years
01:16running. When the pandemic hit, he recorded a voicemail giving Mint customers free unlimited data.
01:21No strings. Just a small kindness, delivered with the brand's signature wink. That's how a
01:28celebrity stake becomes real loyalty. The kind of billion-dollar deal is built on. And on March 15,
01:342023, the payoff. T-Mobile agreed to buy Mint Mobile's parent company for up to $1.35 billion.
01:4139% cash, 61% stock. The final price tied to how well the company performed.
01:48Under the deal, Reynolds keeps his creative role, while Mint's original founders keep running the
01:52brand as a separate unit. So what did Ryan Reynolds walk away with? Reports estimate his
01:58stake brought him around $300 million. Maybe more. Forbes put the total closer to 337.
02:05For a role that paid him almost nothing up front, that's a pretty good deal. Reynolds kept it classy.
02:11He tweeted, quote, I never dreamt I'd own a wireless company and I certainly never dreamt I'd sell it
02:16to T-Mobile. Life is strange and I'm incredibly proud and grateful. End quote. He even joked that
02:23T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from his mom. Here's the thing. This wasn't a one-off.
02:29He sold Aviation Gin to Diageo in 2020 for as much as $600 million. He co-owns the Welsh football
02:36club Wrexham and turned its unlikely rise into a hit TV show. Ryan Reynolds doesn't just star in brands.
02:42He builds them. So here's the question. Which one was the smartest move? Mint Mobile, Aviation Gin,
02:50or Wrexham? Drop your pick in the comments. And follow for more stories about the celebrities
02:55quietly winning at business.
02:59We'll see you next time.
03:01Bye.
