Ryan Reynolds, from Hollywood star to successful businessman

In October 2021, Ryan Reynolds announced on his social media that he is taking a vacation. The famous Canadian Hollywood actor broke the news after the premiere Lusty, a comedy starring Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer for Apple that was a disappointing critical failure. Reynolds paused his career in the industry, but at the same time doubled down on his successful commitment as an investor and entrepreneur. For two years, the star who is attending the third installment of dead poolhe was linked to European football, with the sale of Gin Aviation to Diageo for $600 million, to telecommunications and even to Formula 1. All these operations made him one of the few movie stars with strong business capabilities.

Reynolds (Vancouver, Canada, 46 years old) recently revealed that he is part of a group of investors who control 24% of Alpine Racing, the Renault Formula 1 team, which today is controlled by the Liberty Media group. The transaction, the amount of which amounted to $ 218 million, was carried out jointly with the private funds RedBird Capital, which has a stake in Liverpool, AC Milan and Otro Capital. The process comes after the team recorded its best year since 2017 in 2021. That year, the car team earned €33m in a period that coincided with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel.

Reynolds is the youngest of four children in a marriage formed by a shop assistant and member of the Canadian Mounted Police. In his investment face, the celluloid star is not alone. He is accompanied by his friend and partner Rob McElhinney, American actor and author of the comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Michael B. Jordan, translator of Creed, the Rocky spin-off. Three effort to control, the production company was founded in 2018 And his name is inspired by one of the most frequently repeated phrases by the irreverent superhero dead pool.

In their taste for the sport, both Reynolds and McElhinney tried their luck in the world of European football, now plagued by petrodollars. At the end of 2020, they bought lowly Welsh club Wrexham, a team from the fifth tier of the English Premier League. They saw in him a potential Cinderella who could become a princess. And they are not wrong. If the experience in Hollywood has taught them anything, it is that audiences love nothing more than a good story to beat: last April the team achieved a dream promotion and next season will play in the English third tier for the first time in 15 years.

Experience with Wrexham, a club in a city of 135,000, is one way to understand Reynolds’ philosophy. It is difficult, even for the most avid football fan, to know the history of a team that lives so far away from the great clubs of the Premier League. However, with the arrival of the Hollywood star, the club has become a global brand. The Welsh now, for example, has a documentary series on the FX platform called Welcome to Wrexham. Their players are wearing ads for United Airlines on their jerseys and they’ve just signed to HP, While their competitors advertise small carriers or small local businesses. King Charles III of England visited the club’s grounds in December to see the phenomenon firsthand. “They are working hard to put the Wrexham name on the map like never before,” said the King.

In an April interview, a Bloomberg reporter asked the actor what lessons he’s learned as an investor. He replied, “Really, I think putting your neck on the line in the game is very important, and that means you have an emotional investment.” He added, “I’ve said on other occasions that I’m no expert in finance, but what we at Maximum Effort do is understand and manage these emotional investments very well.” Days before the interview with The Economic Agency, Reynolds announced he was entering the sector financial technology, a new field for him. He chose Nuvei, a Montreal-based digital payments company with a presence in 47 countries. The company did not announce the amount paid by the translator in the process.

With 49 million followers on Instagram alone, Reynolds knows the power of marketing all too well. This is one of the main strengths of his company, which is managed by George Dewey, the promotional executive for the first batch of dead pool. Social media has given you direct access to your consumers. From his platforms, the actor displays the freshness and sense of humor that made him a star for the brands he’s associated with. This makes campaigns easier to spread and differentiates them from other celebrities who lend their image to a product.

Generous capital gains

The company made an announcement in January for Mint Mobile, the low-cost mobile phone company in which it has a significant stake. The execution was simple. Reynolds looks into the camera and announces that the ad text was written by ChatGPT. The only thing the AI asked him to do was mention his current promotion to distinguish himself from the big phone companies, insert a joke and insert a curse word into the formula, one of the hallmarks of a comedian. The video has nearly two million views on YouTube and has achieved what an actor and producer demand of maximum effort, which is a quick reaction ability to quickly write, shoot, edit and launch an ad about the topics they have in mind.

last March, T-Mobile, one of the major US phone companies, has announced the acquisition of Mint, which offered some of the cheapest plans without having a single store in the country and in which Reynolds owns a 25% stake. The company has grown 50% in customers and 70% in revenue in the past four years with a new style. The operation closed at $1,350 million with 39% cash and 61% equity interest. The actor received about 300 million for his actions. Reynolds and Mint supporters weren’t too happy about the big fish eating the little fish after several years of going against the grain. In an advertisement for the company, Satan is named as the person in charge of customer service for a large telephone company. Fans were reassured when the message confirming the transaction was posted. T-Mobile CEO Mike Seifert thanked Reynolds and his team while announcing they would keep the $15-per-month plan. Reynolds quipped, “T-Mobile assured me they weren’t going to mess with their almost impulsive, impulsive calling strategy.”

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