Ryan Reynolds Buys Stake in F1 Racing Team, Growing His Business Empire
He joined investors like actor Michael B. Jordan in buying a 24% stake in the Alpine F1 team
3 min
Actor and entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds is expanding his business empire into Formula One racing.
Reynolds and a group that includes celebrity American investors, such as his business partner and fellow actor Rob McElhenney, are buying a 24% stake in the Alpine F1 team for about $218 million, the team’s owner said Monday.
F1 races have become more popular in the U.S. in recent years, with celebrities packing into stands to watch drivers speed around a track. Alpine, a mid-tier team based in the U.K., is one of 10 F1 competitors.
The investors are buying a stake in Alpine Racing Ltd, the parent company of the Alpine team, according to Renault Group, a French auto manufacturer and the team’s owner. Renault said the new investors would bring expertise in marketing, merchandising and other areas.
The deal values the racing team at around $900 million, Renault said.
Reynolds, 46 years old, has long been a Hollywood star, with leading roles in comedy, action and rom-com films. He has used his marketing savvy to build an off-screen empire, purchasing stakes in the gin brand Aviation, the cell phone company Mint Mobile and a Welsh soccer team. T-Mobile US agreed to buy Mint Mobile earlier this year for about $1.35 billion and Diageo agreed in 2020 to pay as much as $610 million to acquire Aviation.
Reynolds started the production company and marketing agency Maximum Effort, named after his character’s catchphrase in the “Deadpool” movie franchise.
Alpine’s new investors include the actor Michael B. Jordan and private investment firms Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners. The firms have been affiliated with sports teams including the Dallas Cowboys and the French soccer club Toulouse FC.
Maximum Effort and representatives for Reynolds didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Representatives for Jordan declined to comment.
Reynolds and McElhenney are involved with another sports team, Wrexham AFC, a low-tier soccer club in North Wales that they bought in 2020. They chronicled their takeover of the struggling team and efforts to transform it in a 2022 FX docuseries, “Welcome to Wrexham.” The club this spring won a promotion out of the lowest tier of English soccer to the second-worst league.
The Alpine F1 team is featured in the Netflix series, “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” which has drawn American fans to the sport since the show premiered in 2019.
F1 teams compete in many races each season. Several drivers represent each team and race in solo, aerodynamic cars.
The Alpine team has existed under different names for more than four decades. Renault renamed the team Alpine in 2021 after the company’s sports car brand, Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS. The team placed fifth and fourth out of 10 teams in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Laurent Rossi, the chief executive of the Alpine team and the sports car brand, said in a statement Monday that the team wanted to catch up with top squads and invest in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment.
“This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels,” Rossi said.
Alpine said Monday that it aimed for its sports car brand to break even in 2026 and to generate more than $8.7 billion in revenue in 2030.
The team is based in the English village of Enstone, about 60 miles northwest of London.
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Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
Employment grew for the 16th consecutive month as companies expanded.
2 min
According to a recent PMI report, Qatar experienced its fastest non-energy sector growth in almost two years in June, driven by surges in both existing and new business activities.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) headline figure for Qatar reached 55.9 in June, up from 53.6 in May, with anything above 50.0 indicating growth in business activity. Employment also grew for the 16th month in a row, and the country’s 12-month outlook remained robust.
The inflationary pressures were muted, with input prices rising only slightly since May, while prices charged for goods and services fell, according to the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) report.
This headline figure marked the strongest improvement in business conditions in the non-energy private sector since July 2022 and was above the long-term trend.
The report noted that new incoming work expanded at the fastest rate in 13 months, with significant growth in manufacturing and construction and sharp growth in other sectors. Despite the rising demand for goods and services, companies managed to further reduce the volume of outstanding work in June.
Companies attributed positive forecasts to new branch openings, acquiring new customers, and marketing campaigns. Prices for goods and services fell for the sixth time in the past eight months as firms offered discounts to boost competitiveness and attract new customers.
Qatari financial services companies also recorded further strengthening in growth, with the Financial Services Business Activity and New Business Indexes reaching 13- and nine-month highs of 61.1 and 59.2, respectively. These levels were above the long-term trend since 2017.
Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, QFC CEO, said the June PMI index was higher than in all pre-pandemic months except for October 2017, which was 56.3. “Growth has now accelerated five times in the first half of 2024 as the non-energy economy has rebounded from a moderation in the second half of 2023,” he said.
Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’
Americans now think they need at least $1.25 million for retirement, a 20% increase from a year ago, according to a survey by Northwestern Mutual
