Ryan Reynolds will reap a staggering windfall from a $1.35 billion deal to sell Mint Mobile to T-Mobile — but Mint’s customers could end up footing the bill, telecom experts told The Post.
The “Deadpool” star, who snagged a 20% to 25% stake in Mint when he inked a deal to become its pitchman in 2019 — stands to reap upwards of $270 million in the sale of the prepaid phone carrier.
“I never dreamt I’d own a wireless company and I certainly never dreamt I’d sell it to T-Mobile.” Reynolds said in a tweet. “Life is strange and I’m incredibly proud and grateful.”
On the downside, however, the consolidation of wireless providers has been disproportionately slamming lower-income customers – and the problem is worsening under the Biden administration, telecom executive Peter Adderton told On The Money
“Under Trump, we saw T-Mobile and Sprint consolidate, but under the Biden government we’ve lost 15 wireless brands,” Adderton, CEO of Mobile X Global, told On The Money.
Mint, founded in California in 2016, is a so-called mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, meaning the company piggybacks on the infrastructure of another network — in Mint’s case T-Mobile.
“The MNVOs were driving prices down because they could drive mean and lean,” he added. “The only reason it’s wildly successful is because they’re offering better value to customers.”
“Now, big carriers are just buying them up instead of trying to compete,” Adderton notes.
It’s unclear how much Mint has expanded since Reynolds came on board but a previous report suggests between November 2017 and November 2020 the company increased revenue 50,000 percent.
The Post reported in 2021 that Ryan Reynolds was poised to reap a windfall from his stake in the company.
Reynolds and T-Mobile didn’t respond to requests for comment.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
