Former Topgolf CEO Tom Leverton will lead Purpose Brands, a holding company comprising Orangetheory Fitness, Anytime Fitness and more
The new company formed by the merger of Orangetheory Fitness and Anytime Fitness parent Self Esteem Brands officially has a name, Purpose Brands, along with a new CEO in former Topgolf chief executive Tom Leverton.
Purpose Brands will be headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida and Woodbury, Minnesota, according to an announcement made Thursday. The holding company includes boutique fitness giant Orangetheory and 24/7 gym franchise Anytime Fitness, along with The Bar Method, Basecamp/Sumhiit Fitness and Waxing the City, among other entities.
Leverton, who most recently served as a partner at investment firm Pritzker Private Capital, will lead the new company as its first-ever CEO. A former engineer, Leverton had stints as the CEO of brands including Topgolf, Chuck. E Cheese parent CEC Entertainment and Omniflight, a provider of medical helicopters. Leverton will also serve on the Purpose Brands board of directors.
Leverton told Athletech News he decided to join Purpose Brands due to the strength of its flagship brands Orangetheory and Anytime Fitness, as well as his desire to create positive change through fitness and wellness.
“Two of my formative experiences were in medical services. I was a biomedical engineer making neurovascular catheters and I was CEO of a medical helicopter business,” Leverton told ATN. “In both of those roles, we literally saved lives. Purpose Brands literally saves lives, and the lives we don’t save we’re making better through improved health, wellness and self esteem.”
A Fitness Industry Giant
The creation of Purpose Brands comes after Orangetheory and Self Esteem Brands announced a merger of equals in February. The deal marked one of the biggest fitness industry consolidations in recent memory, with global powerhouses in Orangetheory and Anytime joining forces to essentially create a fitness and wellness supercompany.
Purpose Brands now operates more than 7,000 locations, including over 1,500 Orangetheory studios and 5,000 Anytime Fitness gyms, serving over 6 million total members worldwide and doing around $3.7 billion in revenue. Nearly half of those locations are outside of the United States, with 50 countries and territories represented on seven continents.
Private equity firm Roark Capital, which previously invested in Orangetheory and Self Esteem Brands, will continue to support the combined company, the sides said.
Orangetheory co-founder Dave Long and Self Esteem Brands co-founder Chuck Runyon told ATN they’d been discussing their brands joining forces for several years, and finally felt the timing was right earlier this year. They chose Purpose Brands as the company’s name in a nod to the important mission that fitness and wellness brands play in improving people’s health.
“Going back to the earliest conversations Dave Long and I had, we’ve always (had) very purpose-driven organizations,” Runyon said. “We believe in the power of better health for people around the world, and, of course, supporting small business owners with franchising. That shared purpose is what brought us together initially, and I think ultimately, what inspires our teams to come to work every day.”
Runyon and Long will serve on the Purpose Brands board of directors and will stay active in fitness industry circles, but Leverton will run the day-to-day as CEO.
“We chose Tom given his track record of being purpose-driven, growth-orientated, and what I’d call long-term stakeholder focused,” Runyon said. “Every single company he worked for was better after he left. We’re excited to see where he takes the company.”
What’s Next for Purpose Brands?
Despite their already massive footprints, Leverton believes there’s plenty of room for Orangetheory and Anytime to continue expanding in the U.S. and abroad in the years ahead. Brands like The Bar Method, Basecamp/Sumhiit Fitness and Waxing the City could also be in line for expansion.
“There’s a tremendous amount of white space both domestically and internationally,” Leverton said, pointing to data that pegged the global wellness market’s value at $6.3 trillion in 2023 with a projected increase to $9 trillion by 2028.
Besides driving more expansion, Leverton says Orangetheory and Anytime Fitness franchise owners can expect enhanced support and new resources across data analytics, operations, marketing and even science.
“We’re going to be the largest health and wellness platform in the world with 7,000 locations, 50 countries, seven continents and more than 6 million members,” he said. “With that scale, we’re going to be able to deliver every possible tool to our franchisees so they can give their members the best health and wellness experience possible.”
Those benefits could include increased collaboration between Orangetheory and Anytime Fitness from a tech perspective, although nothing’s been confirmed yet on that front. Anytime made headlines last year when it became the first gym brand to partner with Apple Fitness+, while Orangetheory is known for using heart-rate tracking tech during workouts.
Long, who co-founded Orangetheory in 2010 and grew it into one of the fitness industry’s biggest franchise brands as CEO, is excited for the next chapter under new leadership.
“There’s just so much entrepreneurial energy at Purpose Brands,” Long said. “The focus is on how we make our franchisees successful (because) ultimately, they make our members and customers more successful. That’s the through line of this whole thing, that’s our North Star and that’s where our focus will be.”
