U.S. carrier T-Mobile has finalized a $1.35 billion USD (about $1.85 billion CAD) deal to acquire Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile.
Specifically, T-Mobile acquired Mint from the Ka’ena Corporation. The acquisition also included smaller mobile properties such as Ultra Mobile and Plum. The acquisition was announced in March 2023.
Gizmodo reports that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal last week following a pledge from T-Mobile to allow existing Mint customers to switch providers for 60 days after the acquisition. The carrier also agreed to keep Mint’s $15/mo deal for new and existing customers, although it only committed to this “through the end of the year.”
Reynolds, who owned 25 percent of the company, is expected to take home at least $300 million USD (about $412 million CAD) as part of the deal.
Reynolds, who has acted as the face of Mint Mobile and often appears (and cracks jokes) in the company’s ads, has also wanted to expand Mint to Canada for years. Notably, Reynolds said he was working on bringing Mint to Canada in 2020, launched billboards calling for Mint in Canada in 2021 and, in 2022, shared a ‘holiday wishlist’ that included bringing Mint to Canada.
However, it’s unclear whether the T-Mobile acquisition will kill that dream. MobileSyrup reached out to Mint Mobile to see if it still had plans for a Canadian expansion and will update this post with any additional information it provides.
Alongside the acquisition, T-Mobile did announce Mint would get expanded roaming in Mexico and Canada along with some other T-Mobile features, like a ‘Scam Likely’ warning on calls from known scammers.
Interestingly, it was about this time last year when Quebecor acquired Freedom Mobile for $2.85 billion as part of the Rogers-Shaw merger. While Freedom Mobile has continued offering aggressive deals to undercut the bigger Canadian telecom players, the Rogers-Shaw merger has generally been bad for competition.
Header image credit: Ryan Reynolds (YouTube)
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