>
Troubled fitness empire F45 is unloading mountains of brand-name equipment on Facebook’s marketplace amid a plummeting stock price, a board shakeup and impending class action lawsuits.
F45 Training shares fell 60 percent last year after he The company laid off 45 percent of its corporate staff as part of a restructuring and announced it would only open 40 percent of the new gyms it promised.
The shares traded for around $16 during their initial public offering, but have not traded above $4 since.
The struggling company announced Wednesday that three high-profile Australian tech gurus — chief travel executive Vanessa Douglas, Canstar technical director Angelo Demasi and sports teacher Lee Wallace — had resigned from the board.
Australian co-founder Adam Gilchrist, not the former Australian cricketer, and Hollywood actor and investor Mark Wahlberg have retained their positions.
In the days after the board bloodbath, one of the founders of Australian company Opulent Group, the biggest global F45 franchise, put mountains of brand-name fitness equipment up for sale on the Facebook marketplace.
Pictured: F45 gear available for sale on the Facebook marketplace. Benches, kettlebells and dumbbells are also sold
Mark Wahlberg (pictured center with David and Candace Warner) was the second largest shareholder in F45, but managed to sell 1.1 million of his F45 shares last year.
The group runs 19 F45 gyms in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland, but the equipment in question is sold in gyms in Sydney and Brisbane.
‘Big clearance sale! Commercial grade gym equipment for your studio or home workout space,” read one of the 21 ads.
The mountain of equipment for sale includes dumbbells, kettlebells and medicine balls, which are priced at $2 per kilo.
Pull-up bars, foam rollers, ski machines, spin bikes, battle ropes, and bands range from $10 to $1200 each.
Along with fitness equipment, the group also sells foam mats, storage bins, fans, shelves, and coolers.
Discounts are offered to anyone who can buy in bulk.
Neither F45 nor the Opulent Group founders would make a statement when contacted by Daily Mail Australia.
According to the company’s official statement last Wednesday, board members resigned after the company closed an A$130 million subordinated credit facility with a US-based private equity fund, and the three Australian members of the board were replaced by Americans.
Subordinated debt is a type of loan that guarantees that all corporate debts are paid before shareholders in the event of a company collapse.
Spin bikes with F45 beads were among the items for sale in fitness equipment ads on Facebook Marketplace
Mountains of dumbbells start at $3 a kilo, while kettlebells start at $2 a kilo
Gilchrist had teamed up with Rob Deutsch to create F45 out of the Rollex gym in Sydney’s White City, which Mr Deutsch established in 2012 with a $100,000 severance check from his previous life as a stock sales trader.
The pair rebranded Rollex as F45 and established the franchise model for the gyms that became a giant of the fitness business on its upward trajectory.
Gilchrist, who was CEO until abruptly resigning in July 2022, enjoyed a lavish lifestyle when the F45 became an international success.
He rubbed shoulders with celebrities and made $500 million overnight when actor Mark Wahlberg invested $450 million in F45.
The franchisee sells medicine balls and a variety of other gym equipment, according to Facebook ads.
The gym went public on the New York Stock Exchange in July of last year in a $1.6 billion stock debut that sent the share price soaring to $17.28.
Mark Wahlberg recruited David Beckham in 2021 as a global ambassador for $5 million, with a similar amount ($7.2 million) in a cash payment due to the soccer star in July last year, on the one-year anniversary. of the issuance of shares.
Basketball legend Magic Johnson received a $4 million cash payment, golfer Greg Norman was another sports celebrity recruit, and supermodel Cindy Crawford received $5 million in stock.
Now, rather than expand, F45 plans to cut staff and lower profit and revenue forecasts for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
Mr. Gilchrist took over as director of F45 in March 2020, when Rob Deutsch was leaving the company. he was in the position of just over two years before he resigned from the company in August.
Pictured is F45 co-founder Rob Deutsch and Mark Wahlberg at one of the gym’s franchises.
Deutsch said he was devastated to hear what had happened since he left the F45.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined this,” Deutsch wrote on Instagram.
‘When I went out and sold F45, I left a healthy, phenomenal, beastly business, from the company culture to the heartbeat of the business…the training.
‘F45 was special. I truly hope that all 110 laid off employees find happiness and opportunity elsewhere.”