T-Mobile Announces Acquisition of Mint Mobile [Video]

T-Mobile has announced that it's entered into an agreement to acquire Ka'ena Corporation and its subsidiaries including Mint Mobile (owned in part by Ryan Reynolds), Ultra Mobile, and Plum. These brands already run on T-Mobile's cellular network.

T-Mobile 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. The Un-carrier will also be able to leverage Mint's industry-leading digital D2C marketing expertise as part of its broader portfolio to reach new customer segments and geographies. The Mint and Ultra brands are complementary to the company's current prepaid service offerings Metro by T-Mobile, T-Mobile branded prepaid and Connect by T-Mobile.

"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 Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. "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."


"Our brands have thrived on the T-Mobile network, and we are thrilled that this agreement will take them even further, bringing the many benefits of 5G to even more Americans," said David Glickman, founder and CEO of Mint, Ultra and Plum. "This transaction validates our meteoric success and will unite two proven industry innovators committed to doing things differently in the wireless industry."

"Mint Mobile is the best deal in wireless and today's news only enhances our ability to deliver for our customers. We are so happy T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds as we believe the excellence of their 5G network will provide a better strategic fit than my mom's slightly-above-average mahjong skills. I am so proud of the entire Mint team and so excited for what's to come," said Ryan Reynolds.

Following the deal's close, Mint's founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will remain onboard at T-Mobile to manage the brands, which will generally operate as a separate business unit. Owner Ryan Reynolds will continue on in his creative role on behalf of Mint.

T-Mobile will pay up to a maximum of $1.35 billion in a combination of 39% cash and 61% stock to acquire Ka'ena. The actual price to be paid by T-Mobile will be based upon Ka'ena's performance during certain periods before and after the closing.  It is also subject to working capital adjustments and other contractual reserves. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, and is expected to close later this year.


Take a look at the announcement video below...