Life Fitness is an American fitness company specializing in the production and distribution of cardiovascular and strength training equipment under several brands including Life Fitness, Cybex and Hammer Strength. It is headquartered in

Franklin Park, Illinois Franklin Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,467 at the 2020 census, up from 18,333 at the 2010 census. It was named for real estate broker Lesser Franklin who bought acres of the area when it was a maj ...

and is a portfolio company of

KPS Capital Partners KPS Capital Partners is an American investment company that manages KPS Special Situation Funds, a family of investment funds. KPS specifically invests out of two funds raised in October 2019: KPS Special Situations Fund V ($6.12 billion) and KPS ...

History

Keene P. Dimick created an exercise bike in 1968. In 1977,

Augie Nieto Augustine L. Nieto II (1958 – February 22, 2023) was the founder and chief executive of Life Fitness, as well as the chairman of Augie's Quest to Cure ALS, and the ALS Therapy Development Institute. He and his wife, Lynne, lived in Corona Del ...

incorporated the company in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

as Lifecycle, Inc. to sell exercise bikes based on the same name that were based on Dimick's. Nieto sold the company to

Bally Total Fitness Bally Total Fitness Holding Corporation was an American fitness club chain. At its 2007 peak, prior to the filing of the first of two Chapter 11 bankruptcies, Bally operated nearly 440 facilities located in 29 U.S. states, Mexico, Canada, South K ...

in 1984, who subsequently renamed the company Life Fitness, Inc. Life Fitness created the first computerized strength training program in 1988. In 1991,

sold the company to Mancuso & Company, a private equity firm, for $62.5 million. The same year, Life Fitness expanded into

treadmills A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...

. Life Fitness was acquired by

Brunswick Corporation Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Today, Brunswick has more than 13,000 employ ...

in June 1997 for $310 million. The sale was completed on July 11, 1997. Later in 1997, Life Fitness bought Hammer Strength, a manufacturing of weight machines. ParaBody, Inc. was bought by Life Fitness in 1998. In 2013, Energym Sport purchased the

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

rights for the American brand Life Fitness, for a figure of over one million New Shekel and would start to promote and sell the company's products in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. In 2015,

Brunswick Billiards Brunswick Bowling & Billiards was the business segment of Brunswick Corporation that historically encompassed the following three divisions: * #Billiards, Billiards was the company's original product line. The segment expanded to include other tabl ...

was placed under Life Fitness by its parent company. In addition, Life Fitness created InMovement, a product line for workplaces, and acquired SCIFIT. In January 2016, Cybex International became part of Life Fitness, following its $195 million acquisition by Life Fitness parent company,

. Indoor Cycling Group was also acquired the same year. Life Fitness, waterrower, Spain, 2016

In 2019, Brunswick agreed to sell Life Fitness to New York private equity firm

for $490 million. The deal moved Brunswick's entire fitness and recreation division — including Brunswick Billiards — into private hands, as Brunswick focused on its remaining portfolio of marine engines and boats. The sale was completed on June 27, 2019. In 2022, Life Fitness agreed to sell its Brunswick Billiards business unit to Escalade Sports for $32 million.

References

{{Reflist 1977 establishments in Illinois Exercise equipment companies Brunswick Corporation Manufacturing companies based in Illinois Rosemont, Illinois Companies based in Cook County, Illinois Manufacturing companies established in 1977 American companies established in 1977 Privately held companies based in Illinois Private equity portfolio companies 1984 mergers and acquisitions 1991 mergers and acquisitions 1997 mergers and acquisitions 2019 mergers and acquisitions