Why You Should Have a Brand: Ryan Reynolds Edition
Ryan Reynolds, the beloved actor, is well on track to become a billionaire. And it’s not from his day job. He has amassed a big following through his movies and has then leveraged that into creating billion dollar businesses. Let’s find out how exactly his net worth is in the hundreds of millions and growing still.
Movies
He’s been acting professionally since the 90s, most famously having played the comic book character Deadpool. But he’s also done some A-list movies in recent years that would have earned him a considerable sum. Following the release of Deadpool in 2016, Ryan ranked 15th on Forbes' list of the world’s highest-paid actors in 2017, earning an estimated $21.5 million! And if you don’t know, the next part is scheduled for late 2024.
Wrexham AFC
Reynolds, along with actor Rob McElhenney, bought Welsh soccer team Wrexham AFC in 2020 for $2.5 million according to estimates. To promote the club, a show was started named “Welcome to Wrexham” through the OTT route. In 2023, the team won the National League title, which means they get to play in the English Football League now. All of this has considerably boosted the value of the team, meaning he would be up millions on this investment easily.
Aviation Gin
The actor bought a stake in liquor company Aviation Gin in 2018. The company was bought later in 2020 for an estimated $610 million, again earning him a multi-million dollar payday.
Mint Mobile
He bought a 25% stake (estimates say) in wireless carrier Mint Mobile in 2019. Following the purchase, he produced a number of creative and witty ads to promote the company to his audience. In early 2023, the company was acquired by T-Mobile for $1.35 billion (again, estimates), which means he would be walking away with more than $300 million from this deal alone.
Maximum Effort
Reynolds co-founded a production and marketing agency in 2018. A part of the company was bought while the independent part signed a deal with FuboTV and received shares worth around $10 million. This company has proved to be instrumental to the success of his other companies since they create ads for them which are relevant to the present and witty, which, therefore, appeal to his massive audience.
Other Investments
Ryan has invested in other companies, named Wealthsimple (wealth management service) and 1Password (password management software) and both these companies are worth more than $5 billion as of this writing.
So Ryan understood his brand value and then turned to create billion-dollar brands by leveraging his massive reach and audience. He wasn’t bound to his craft, he has ventured into a whole host of industries and more importantly, succeeded. In doing so, he has proven he understands the power of networking. Since doing everything alone is not feasible, you need brilliant people along with you to make businesses successful. As we saw with Logan Paul and MKBHD, when brand value is mixed with business savvy, you get viral brands, and in today’s world, that lands you smack dab in the middle of a lot of money.
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