Planet Fitness has been ‘pretty much destroyed,’ says company founder amid speculation over boycott reversals
Planète Fitness Inc. (NYSE: PLNT) Founder and CEO Mike Grondahl detailed a history of widespread abuse at the company and alleged it misrepresented its financial data during a recent interview with controversial right-wing user Libs from TikTok.
It comes after weeks of calls for a boycott of the brand after the company canceled a Planet Fitness gym goer’s membership after he spoke about a biological man in the women’s locker room.
Planet Fitness policy allows gym members to use the locker room associated with their gender identity. But this policy has resulted in some high-profile cases of women feeling uncomfortable in Planet Fitness’ women’s locker rooms, and some women and children have reported abuse and sexual harassment at the facilities. Many of these incidents resulted in women losing their membership, but an arrest was made in at least one case, as Benzinga previously reported.
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In the 15-minute interview, Grondahl described the history of the company and the reason for its creation. Grondahl launched the gym, noting that the judgment-free zone was meant to be a welcome signal to novice gym-goers looking for a place to start. But when he talks about the company today, Grondahl says what it has become is “devastating.”
“Planet Fitness was like another child to me. And I put my heart and soul into building this company and it was basically destroyed, you know, it lost all respect in the country in the last two weeks,” he said. “There is no common sense behind this.”
Grondahl told TikTok Libs that he does not approve of the policies or the response to them in recent weeks. Grondahl sold the company to private equity in November 2012 and lost control. After the sale, he remained CEO until he was ousted after reporting that the chief administrative officer (CAO) and general counsel hired by the private equity firm had been convicted of multiple charges over several years and had repeatedly abused minors. In two cases, he was a teacher and was convicted of abusing his students. CAO left Planet Fitness in 2017.
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“When we made it public, the majority of the board knew that this lead attorney was a pedophile. It’s in the culture.” Grondahl said during the TikTok interview.
Planet Fitness’s “culture” includes accusations of widespread abuse within the company.
“It started at corporate headquarters, this lawyer started abusing employees, then he sexually abuses them, now the culture is leading to people who do the right thing being kicked out of Planet Fitness,” Grondahl said.
While it’s clear that Grondahl is not a fan of the policies and policies going on at Planet Fitness on any level, he went on to detail other claims that could end up further damaging their stock price. Grondahl said, “Their numbers are very suspect,” referring to Planet Fitness’s financial data. Grondahl, who founded and ran the company for more than a decade, has a deep understanding of the interworking and economics required to open a Planet Fitness location.
“I hope these people are buying in short because the way they report their same-store sales and how many units they can say they can put in America is complete bullshit,” Grondahl said.
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About 60,000 people must live in an area to maintain a 10,000-member Planet Fitness club.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, there are currently 650 cities in the United States with more than 60,000 residents and only 806 with more than 50,000 residents.
Planet Fitness has 18.7 million members in 2,575 gyms around the world. It would likely take tens of thousands of members, if not more, to start denting its bottom line. While it’s possible, it’s notoriously difficult to cancel a Planet Fitness membership unless you’re one of the people speaking out against the company. A short “Bear Cave” report from January 2023 called Planet Fitness an “illegal billing operation with gyms on the side.” Planet Fitness is down 23% since this report was published.
That’s not to say members aren’t trying. According to Google Trends, inquiries such as “how to cancel Planet Fitness membership on the app” increased by 2,800%. Google marked “How do I cancel my Planet Fitness membership” as a “breakout” trend, noting a recent increase in search results for that query.
Towards the end of the video, Chaya Raichik, owner of the Libs of TikTok account, said there had been “mass cancellations”, although nothing was confirmed or substantiated.
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This article Planet Fitness has been ‘pretty much destroyed,’ company founder says amid speculation over boycott reversals, originally published on Benzinga.com
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