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 USagreed to buy Mint Mobile earlier this year for about $1.35 billion and Diageoagreed 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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