Life Fitness
| File:Life Fitness logo.svg | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder | Augie Nieto and Ray Wilson |
| Headquarters | |
Key people |
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| Brands | Life Fitness Hammer Strength, Cybex Indoor Cycling Group SCIFIT InMovement Brunswick Billiards |
| Owner | KPS Capital Partners |
Number of employees |
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| Parent | Bally Total Fitness (1984-1991) Mancuso & Co. (1991-1997) Brunswick Corporation (1997-present) |
| Subsidiaries | Cybex International ParaBody Inc. |
| Website | lifefitness |
Life Fitness is an American fitness equipment company that specializes in the production and distribution of equipment such as stationary bikes and treadmills. They developed the industry's first electronic stationary bicycle. As of 2015, the company has over 1,700 employees and twelve manufacturing facilities around the world.[1]
History
![[icon]](/enwiki/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (May 2017) |
Keene P. Dimick created an exercise bike in 1968. In 1977, Augie Nieto incorporated the company in Illinois as Lifecycle, Inc. to sell exercise bikes based on the same name that were based on Dimick's.[1][2] Nieto sold the company to Bally Total Fitness in 1984, who subsequently renamed the company Life Fitness, Inc.[3]
Life Fitness created the first computerized strength training program in 1988.[4]
In 1991, Bally Total Fitness sold the company to Mancuso & Company, a private equity firm, for $62.5 million.[5] The same year, Life Fitness expanded into treadmills.
Life Fitness was acquired by Brunswick Corporation in June 1997 for $310 million.[6][7] The sale was completed on July 11, 1997.[8] Later in 1997, Life Fitness bought Hammer Strength, a manufacturing of weight machines.[9]
Life Fitness was acquired again by KPS Capital Partners on 27 June 2019.[10]
ParaBody, Inc. was bought by Life Fitness in 1998.[11]
In 2015, Brunswick Billiards was placed under Life Fitness by its parent company. In addition, Life Fitness created InMovement, a product line for workplaces, and acquired SCIFIT.[12]
In January 2016, Cybex International became part of Life Fitness, following its $195 million acquisition by Life Fitness parent company, Brunswick Corporation.[13] Indoor Cycling Group was also acquired the same year.
"Brunswick Corp. has agreed to sell its Life Fitness exercise equipment division to New York private equity firm KPS Capital Partners for $490 million. The deal, announced Monday, moves Brunswick’s entire fitness and recreation division — including Brunswick Billiards — into private hands, as the suburban Mettawa-based company focuses on its remaining portfolio of marine engines and boats."
"New Life Fitness owners KPS are looking to invest both capital and sweat equity into building the brand.'We are exceedingly confident that Life Fitness will thrive as an independent company,' KPS partner Jay Bernstein said in a news release."
"The sale of Life Fitness, expected to close during the second quarter, winnows Brunswick’s holdings to its marine engine and boat segments."[14]
References
- ^ a b Perkins, Trinity. "The Best Gym Equipment Brands". LIVESTRONG.COM. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "The Early Years | Life Fitness". www.lifefitness.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "Augie Nieto II". North Castle Partners. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "1980s | Life Fitness". www.lifefitness.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "Bally Agrees To Sell Life Fitness Business". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2013-04-11.
- ^ Gibson, Richard (1997-06-04). "Brunswick to Buy Maker Of Lifecycle for $310 Million". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ Reuters (1997-06-05). "BRUNSWICK TO BUY LIFE FITNESS FOR $310 MILLION". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
{{cite news}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Fitzgerald, Jacqueline (1997-07-11). "Brunswick Completes Acquisition". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ Banks, Claudia (1997-11-14). "Life Fitness Buys Weighty Company". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ KPS Capital Partners
- ^ "1990s | Life Fitness". www.lifefitness.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "2010s | Life Fitness". www.lifefitness.com. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ "Brunswick Acquires Cybex for $195 Million, Will Join Life Fitness". Club Industry. 2016-01-20. Retrieved 2017-05-10.
- ^ Channick, Robert (2019-05-06). "Brunswick works out $490 million sale of Life Fitness to private equity form". Chicago Tribune.
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