from Hacker News

T-Mobile is buying Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile for up to $1.35B

by pgrote on 3/15/23, 1:11 PM with 57 comments

  • by O__________O on 3/15/23, 3:14 PM

    Quick Google appears to show they have 3 million subscribers, which makes the average cost per customer to be $450. Given its a virtual network, beyond brand value Ryan provides, who owns 25% of the company and will remain the brand’s spokesperson — what other assets are being transferred beyond a brand and portfolio of subscribers?

    If long term, it’s basically a subscriber list, seems like value of a virtual US telecommunications subscriber is roughly $45 a year — assuming sell is a 10x multiple. How would someone estimate this value beyond this specific sell? Even more abstract, is there a source for estimating value of a customer for a given market?

  • by bearjaws on 3/15/23, 2:51 PM

    I used to love Mint, but since the population boom in Central Florida it is entirely unusable due to being a low priority network. This means on many occasions you will have almost no bandwidth, I am talking cannot stream Spotify bad. The worst IMO is traffic jams, the one time I really want to listen to music and it will start cutting out.

    If you're downtown there is a 80% chance you will not even be able to load a website or youtube, its basically unusable.

    I know T-Mobile is working to up capacity, but I had to switch to Google Fi to get any real reliability.

  • by morninglight on 3/15/23, 3:04 PM

    It should be easy to attract existing Boost customers.

    Boost Mobile has been screwing their customers for MANY weeks. They cannot even accept payment through their website and Reddit is full of customer horror stories about the total lack of customer support. The official Boost explanation is that they suffered a "technical problem" that they hope to fix "real soon". In the meantime, customers are being advised that payments must be made in person at a Boost store - if you can find one. The Boost stores will not accept a Boost payment card but they do add an additional service fee.

    Boost initially sent out a text message telling customers that payment would not be required until the problem was resolved. Instead, they provided a week of free service and then turned off the phone without warning. Considering the protracted length of time this situation has existed, it is surprising that a class action lawsuit against Boost has not been launched.

    Stay away from Boost Mobile!

  • by bena on 3/15/23, 3:13 PM

    Just looked up how much of the company Reynolds actually owns. About 20% - 25%.

    So he's getting roughly around a $300 million payday out of this. That's roughly double his current reported net worth. Not bad at all.

  • by millerm on 3/15/23, 2:49 PM

    "we have no plans to change our $15 per month pricing"

    So nice of them to exclude mentioning "all plans". Ugh, here comes a huge rate hike. I'm paid up until November. $30/month for "unlimited" was a great deal. I am guessing it will soon be back to $85.

    This is the first time Ryan Reynolds has made me angry. *shakes fist*.

  • by jmull on 3/15/23, 3:52 PM

    Ryan Reynolds is handling the color green better in real life than in the movies.

    I always figured a cheap, high-quality mobile service provider couldn't last but I'm still a little sad to see the end of the good times looming closer. I assume it's just a matter of time before t-mobile starts squeezing.

  • by elecush on 3/15/23, 1:33 PM

    Not so much as an anti-trust blink these days.

  • by Tokkemon on 3/15/23, 3:22 PM

    At least it's T-Mobile, not one of the more offensive wireless providers.

  • by hsnewman on 3/15/23, 2:40 PM

    I wonder if Ryan will still be in the commercials?

  • by slaw on 3/15/23, 2:33 PM

    I guess there will be so no more good deals from Mint, like unlocked Google Pixel 7 Pro for $580.

  • by newaccount2023 on 3/15/23, 2:35 PM

    George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds...they know they can just invest in anything and get an exit based off their notoriety alone

    guess I can't begrudge them, the movie biz is dying, they might as well pimp out their personal brands while they can

    Reynolds also pimps booze like Clooney and Brian Cranston...and people actually fall for it

    Quentin Tarantino Toothpaste? sure, why not