The global head of fitness franchise F45 may have dramatically stepped down and taken with him over a hundred of staff, but local gyms say it's business as usual.
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News emerged on Thursday that the Australian-born, Texas-based gym group's dream of global expansion had floundered.
Co-founder and CEO Adam Gilchrist (not the cricketer) stepped down and the share price dropped to $US1.35, after the group told the New York stock exchange that it had scaled back plans for expansion.
Staff cutbacks followed, with 110 workers laid off at the group's global headquarters in the United States.
The business started with one gym in Paddington, Sydney and rapidly grew in Australia and around the globe off the back of its model of 45 minute cycles of training involving strength and cardiovascular exercises.
A number of franchises operate throughout the Illawarra and those The Mercury spoke with on Friday said there was little blow back locally from the carnage overseas.
Insulated by the franchise model of the business, local gyms were operating as normal, said Dapto F45 franchisee Luke Hanley.
"The head office and the board are in America, it's happening at that level, it's not really at ground level," Mr Hanley said. "It isn't really going to affect us."
F45 shares in the US were valued at $US16.10 when it listed in July 2021, with the business expecting to be resilient and grow after COVID lockdowns.
The business drew the support of actor Mark Whalberg, who signed on as a franchisee and board member. Mr Wahlberg still owns 1.66 million shares, according to recent filings.
Co-founder Luke Istomin, who left F45 in 2016, told The Sydney Morning Herald the group had bitten off more than it could chew when it came to its expansion plans.
F45's other co-founder Rob Deutsch, who also left the business, albeit in 2020, said that when he sold out the group was a "healthy, phenomenal, beast of a business".
Mr Hanley said he was not fazed by movements at the executive level, saying the news was on the cards for some time and that recent developments had been "blown out of proportion".
"It's at that higher level of management, and those things happen all the time. It doesn't effect the day to day running of a small business," Mr Hanley said.
"We all knew it was going to happen anyway."
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