BowFlex is changing hands.
What’s happening: The company formerly known as Nautilus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and agreed to be acquired by Johnson Health Tech for $37.5M.
Equipment brands BowFlex and Schwinn, plus digital fitness app JRNY, will join JHT’s equipment portfolio that includes Matrix and Horizon.
For context: BowFlex has been focused on home exercise for 40 years — but over the past decade, it went all-in.
- The company sold its StairMaster brand in 2009 and all commercial Nautilus assets to Core Health & Fitness in 2014.
- In 2020, it offloaded B2B equipment brand Octane to TRUE Fitness.
- In 2021, it acquired Swiss startup VAY, adding motion tracking to its app and smart dumbbells.
But, the brand’s stock plummeted post-COVID, forcing it to consider a sale.
Reconnecting
Connected fitness companies are being forced to think beyond the home gym.
- After buying MIRROR for $500M, lululemon shuttered its smart screen business and tapped Peloton for app content.
- Screen maker FORME acquired vertical climbing machine CLMBR, inking a commercial distribution deal with Woodway.
- CITYROW sold to its manufacturing partner WaterRower after a Hydrow deal fell through.
Elsewhere… Echelon entered B2B, Tonal is partnering with sports orgs, and Peloton is still searching for a path forward.
Looking ahead: As the fallout from flawed pandemic-era decision-making continues, there’s more fitness consolidation to come. Recalibrating to meet exercisers on their own terms, equipment makers that deliver sustainable, channel-specific growth will find success.
