T-Mobile Acquiring Mint as Part of $1.35 Billion Deal

BELLEVUE, Wash. – T-Mobile US announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ka’ena Corporation and its subsidiaries and brands: Mint Mobile, a successful direct-to-consumer prepaid wireless brand in the U.S.; Ultra Mobile, a unique wireless service offering international calling options to communities across the country; and wholesaler Plum.

With this deal, the brands’ exclusive use of the Un-carrier’s largest, fastest and most reliable 5G network will continue, the company announced in a statement posted to its website.

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.

Reynolds talked about the deal in a Twitter post.

“I never dreamt I’d own a wireless company and I certainly never dreamt I’d sell it to T-Mobile.” Reynolds said in the tweet. “Life is strange and I’m incredibly proud and grateful.”