T-Mobile US buys Mint, Ultra Mobile and wholesaler Plum
T-Mobile US is acquiring actor Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile prepaid MVNO, its parent company and two other associated brands for up to $1.35 billion.
The parent company is Ka’ena Corporation, and its subsidiaries are Mint, Ultra Mobile (which focuses on international calling) and wholesaler Plum.
Mint has made a name for itself with a series of cheeky, low-budget ads featured Reynolds as well as service offerings that start at $15 per month. In a video announcing the acquisition with Reynolds and T-Mo CEO Mike Sievert, Sievert says that T-Mobile US will continue to offer the $15 pricing and Reynolds chimes in that “T-Mobile has assured me that our incredibly improvised and borderline reckless messaging strategy will also remain untouched.”
The Mint Mobile MVNO operates on T-Mobile US’ network. T-Mo will pay up for $1.35 billion in combined cast and stock for Ka’ena, with the final purchase price dependent on the company’s performance before and after closing. The transaction is expected to close later this year.
Mint founders David Glickman (who is also the company’s CEO) and Rizwan Kassim will stay on with T-Mo to manage the brands, and Reynolds “will continue on in his creative role on behalf of Mint,” according to the national carrier.
The acquisition has been rumored for several months, with Bloomberg reporting in January that a potential deal was in the works.
T-Mo says that the Mint and Ultra brands are complementary to its current prepaid portfolio. It is acquiring the brands’ “sales, marketing, digital, and service operations, and plans to use its supplier relationships and distribution scale to help the brands to grow and offer competitive pricing and greater device inventory to more U.S. consumers seeking value offerings,” and that it will “leverage Mint’s industry-leading digital D2C marketing expertise as part of its broader portfolio to reach new customer segments and geographies.”
“Mint has built an incredibly successful digital direct-to-consumer business that continues to deliver for customers on the Un-carrier’s leading 5G network and now we are excited to use our scale and owners’ economics to help supercharge it—and Ultra Mobile—into the future,” said Sievert in a statement. “Over the long-term, we’ll also benefit from applying the marketing formula Mint has become famous for across more parts of T-Mobile. We think customers are really going to win with a more competitive and expansive Mint and Ultra.”
Glickman, founder and CEO of Mint, Ultra and Plum, said that the transaction will “take [the brands] even further and that “validates our meteoric success.”
