Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Fitness |
Founded | September 23, 1991 in Manhattan, New York, United States |
Founders | Danny, Vito and Lavinia Errico |
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Harvey Spevak (chairman) Scott DeRue (president) [1] |
Services | Health club |
Owner | The Related Companies |
Subsidiaries | Equinox SoulCycle PURE Yoga Blink Fitness Precision Run Equinox Hotels PROJECT by Equinox Equinox Explore Equinox Media |
Website | www |
Equinox Holdings, Inc. is an American luxury fitness company which operates several lifestyle brands: Equinox, Equinox Hotels, Precision Run, Project by Equinox, Equinox Explore, Equinox Media, Furthermore, Pure Yoga, Blink Fitness, and SoulCycle. Within the portfolio of brands, there are more than 300 locations in major cities in the United States, as well as in London, Toronto, and Vancouver. [2] The global headquarters is in New York City, where there are currently 35 Equinox clubs. Equinox Group also has a digital platform, the Equinox+ App, that provides access to digital classes. [3] Equinox is owned by a group of investors including Harvey Spevak, executive chairman and managing partner, as well as principals of The Related Companies.
The first Equinox location opened on September 23, 1991 in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was started by the Errico family—Danny, Vito and Lavinia Errico. In 2000, Spevak led a management buyout of Equinox to two private equity firms, North Castle Partners and J.W. Childs. In 2006, he partnered with Related Chairman principals to acquire a controlling interest in Equinox and secured a significant minority investment from private equity firm L Catterton in 2017. [4] [5]
In 2008, Equinox brought Pure Yoga to the United States from Hong Kong. In 2011, Equinox launched Blink, a separate fitness company, and acquired SoulCycle. [6] [7] In July 2019, Equinox launched Equinox Hotels in Hudson Yards, Manhattan. [8]
A 2019 article in The New York Times reported that trainers often worked long hours, sometimes as many as 80 a week, forcing some to sleep in employee locker rooms or their cars between shifts. Former and current trainers also described intense pressure from the company to recruit and retain clients drawn from the club's members. [9]
The company settled out of court two lawsuits in California in 2013, both related to unpaid overtime for trainers. [9]
Businesses owned by and affiliated with Equinox, primarily Equinox gyms and SoulCycle, faced prominent calls for a boycott and protests. The boycott was first prompted by a widely publicized fundraiser for then-president Donald J. Trump by Stephen M. Ross, the founder and principal owner of The Related Companies. [10] Equinox and SoulCycle responded to the boycott and protests by stating it did not endorse the fundraiser and argued Ross was a "passive investor." [11]
A 2023 marketing move by Equinox to ban people from setting up new fitness memberships on January 1 received widespread criticism. The company said the purpose of the campaign was to "snub short-term resolutions". [12] [13] [14]
A360 Media, LLC, formerly American Media, Inc. (AMI), is an American publisher of magazines, supermarket tabloids, and books based in New York City. Originally affiliated with only the National Enquirer, the media company's holdings expanded considerably in the 1990s and 2000s. In November 2010, American Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to debts of nearly $1 billion, but has continued to buy and sell magazine brands since then.
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Consumer activism is a process by which activists seek to influence the way in which goods or services are produced or delivered. Kozinets and Handelman define it as any social movement that uses society's drive for consumption to the detriment of business interests. For Eleftheria Lekakis, author of Consumer Activism: Promotional Culture and Resistance, it includes a variety of consumer practices that range from boycotting and ‘buycotting’ to alternative economic practices, lobbying businesses or governments, practising minimal or mindful consumption, or addressing the complicity of advertising in climate change. Consumer activism includes both activism on behalf of consumers for consumer protection and activism by consumers themselves. Consumerism is made up of the behaviors, institutions, and ideologies created from the interaction between people and the materials and services they consume. Consumer activism has several aims:
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