T-Mobile is acquiring Mint Mobile, the budget wireless service provider partly owned by Ryan Reynolds in a deal valued at $1.35 billion, the company announcement Wednesday. The move indicates that T-Mobile is looking to bolster its prepaid offerings.
In a blog post, T-Mobile said it has reached an agreement to acquire Ka’ena Corporation, the parent company of prepaid wireless brands Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile, and wireless wholesaler Plum for up to $1.35 billion in a combination of 39% cash and 61% stock. The final purchase price will be based on Mint’s performance during certain periods before and after closing. T-Mobile expects to close the deal later this year.
“Mint has built an incredibly successful direct-to-consumer digital business that continues to deliver customers on the Un-carrier’s core 5G network and now we’re excited to use our scale and owner economy to help supercharge it – and Ultra Mobile – in the future,” T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said in a statement. “Long term, we will also benefit from applying the marketing formula that Mint has become famous for in other parts of T-Mobile. We believe customers will really win with a more competitive and expansive Mint and Ultra. .
Sievert said in a video released on Wednesday that the company will retain Mint’s $15 per month price.
After the deal closes, Ryan Reynolds will continue his creative role on behalf of Mint and will continue to appear in advertisements. Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will remain on board T-Mobile to manage the brands, which will generally operate as a separate business unit.
T-Mobile began considering buying Mint Mobile in January, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Mint Mobile has no physical retail stores, as its business operates entirely online. The carrier’s service is already provided by T-Mobile under a wholesale network sharing agreement. For context, Mint Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), which means it buys wholesale access to a wireless network instead of owning and operating it.
T-Mobile is acquiring the sales, marketing, digital and service businesses of Mint Mobile, and plans to use its vendor relationships and distribution scale to help brands grow and deliver competitive pricing and a larger inventory of devices to a larger number of consumers. The company will also leverage Mint’s D2C digital marketing to reach new customer segments and geographies.
The company says Mint Mobile and Ultra Mobile are joining its current prepaid service offerings, which include Metro by T-Mobile, T-Mobile branded prepaid and Connect by T-Mobile.