Neither brand belongs to Ryan Reynolds today. Diageo owns Aviation American Gin outright, though Reynolds kept a minority stake after the 2020 sale; T-Mobile owns Mint Mobile’s parent company outright after a 2023 deal that paid Reynolds out rather than leaving him with equity. What he actually built, and what is still worth studying, is how he got paid on the way there.
Most celebrity brand deals follow the same script: a company pays a famous person a flat fee to appear in ads, the campaign runs for a year or two, and the money stops the day the contract ends. Ryan Reynolds has spent the better part of a decade running a different playbook — and the receipts are two of the largest celebrity-linked business exits of the past five years.
The mechanism is simple to state and hard to execute: instead of licensing his face, Reynolds has repeatedly bought equity in small, underdog consumer brands, then used his own marketing company to grow them from the inside. When the brand sells, he isn’t collecting a fee. He’s collecting a return.
Aviation Gin: from investor to exit
Reynolds acquired a stake in Aviation American Gin in February 2018, well before the brand was a household name, and folded its marketing into Maximum Effort, the ad agency he co-founded. The gin’s ads — dry, self-aware, unmistakably Reynolds — became as much a part of the brand’s identity as the product itself.
In August 2020, spirits giant Diageo bought Aviation for a deal worth up to $610 million: $335 million paid at closing, with the remaining $275 million contingent on the brand hitting sales targets over the following ten years. Reynolds didn’t fully cash out either — he kept an ongoing ownership interest in the brand even after Diageo took control, meaning he continues to have skin in the outcome those future payments depend on.
Mint Mobile: the same playbook, a bigger number
Reynolds took an ownership position in budget wireless carrier Mint Mobile in 2019, again pairing his equity stake with hands-on marketing support from Maximum Effort. The strategy was near-identical to Aviation’s: use comedic, low-budget-feeling ads to make an unglamorous category — prepaid cell phone plans — feel like a brand worth talking about.
It worked well enough that T-Mobile came calling. In March 2023, T-Mobile announced it would acquire Ka’ena Corporation — the parent company of Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile, and wholesale carrier Plum — in a deal worth up to $1.35 billion, split roughly 39% cash and 61% T-Mobile stock. Reynolds’ stake, reported at around 25% of the company, translated to an estimated $300 million personal payout.
Why the structure is the story
Neither deal is remarkable because a celebrity was involved in a successful ad campaign — that happens constantly. What makes Reynolds’ record notable is the consistency of the structure underneath it: identify a category where a low-budget, personality-driven marketing push can outperform bigger competitors’ spend, take equity instead of (or alongside) a fee, and let the brand’s growth curve become his own. It’s the same equity-over-endorsement logic behind Rihanna’s 50/50 joint venture that built Fenty Beauty — a different industry, the same refusal to settle for a flat fee.
It’s a template that inverts the usual power dynamic between a celebrity and a brand. A spokesperson’s incentive is to look good in the ad and collect the check. An owner’s incentive is for the business itself to be worth more the day the ad campaign ends than the day it started — which is exactly what happened, twice, at a combined exit value north of $1.9 billion.
The lesson beyond Reynolds
The Aviation and Mint Mobile deals have become a reference case for a broader shift already visible across sports and entertainment: talent treating fame as an asset to be invested rather than rented out, the same creator-to-mogul logic now reshaping how influencers and musicians build businesses instead of just endorsing them. The distinction between “paid spokesperson” and “owner” sounds small in a press release. In Reynolds’ case, it was worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Aviation Gin now? Diageo, the spirits conglomerate that acquired the brand in August 2020 for a deal worth up to $610 million. Ryan Reynolds, who bought into Aviation American Gin in 2018, is not the owner of record today — but he retained an ongoing minority ownership interest even after Diageo took control, so he still has a stake in the brand’s performance.
Does Ryan Reynolds still own Mint Mobile? No. T-Mobile owns Mint Mobile outright after completing its acquisition of parent company Ka’ena Corporation in a deal announced in March 2023 and worth up to $1.35 billion. Reynolds, who held an estimated 25% stake in Ka’ena, was paid out as part of that deal rather than retaining an ownership position — his share of the proceeds is estimated at roughly $300 million.
How much did Ryan Reynolds make from selling Aviation Gin? Diageo acquired Aviation American Gin in August 2020 for a deal worth up to $610 million — $335 million paid upfront, with up to $275 million more tied to the brand’s sales performance over the following decade. Reynolds, who had bought into the brand in 2018, retained an ongoing ownership interest in Aviation even after the sale.
How much did Ryan Reynolds make from the Mint Mobile sale? T-Mobile’s 2023 acquisition of Mint Mobile’s parent company, Ka’ena Corporation, was valued at up to $1.35 billion, paid in a mix of roughly 39% cash and 61% T-Mobile stock. Reynolds owned an estimated 25% stake in the business, which reporting pegged at approximately $300 million of the total deal value.
Why does it matter that Reynolds took equity instead of an endorsement fee? A traditional celebrity endorsement pays a flat fee for use of a famous face — the brand keeps 100% of whatever value that exposure creates. An equity stake means the celebrity’s marketing work directly compounds their own balance sheet. Reynolds used his ad agency, Maximum Effort, to build both brands’ marketing from the inside, so the campaigns that grew Aviation and Mint Mobile were also growing his own ownership position.
