Bodybuilding.com Sold For 4th Time in 5 Years | Sharon Leite Becomes CEO | My Transformation Plan

What this episode covers

It’s commonly said that there are three guarantees in this life…death, taxes, and Bodybuilding.com pretty much annually being involved in M&A activity. Since July 2019, Bodybuilding.com has been involved in four confirmed mergers and acquisitions transactions. The first was a related-party transaction that happened between Liberty Expedia Holdings and Expedia Group. About a year later, Expedia Group faced huge market pressures from the “Great Shutdown” decimating the travel industry and it was forced to sell off its non-core assets. That was when private equity firm The Najafi Companies took advantage of the fire sale and attempted to stabilize the struggling specialty supplement ecommerce retailer. But it eventually decided to cut its losses early and sell two years later to Retail Ecommerce Ventures…the retail brand portfolio company that was co-founded by internet personality Tai Lopez. In a piece of content from March 2023, I mentioned Retail Ecommerce Ventures was reportedly in financial trouble and had hired advisors to consider a variety of strategic options that include lining up a potential buyer for its portfolio companies, putting up intellectual property as collateral for a loan or investment, or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Well…as of last quarter, we now know that a group of investors, that had backed Retail Ecommerce Ventures, under the new company name of OMNI Retail Enterprises, acquired most of the retail brand assets. These include three keystone assets of Dress Barn, Pier 1, and Bodybuilding.com. Subsequentially, Retail Ecommerce Ventures dissolved as an operating entity without resorting to bankruptcy…and Tai Lopez and his co-founder are not involved in the new venture. About a month after the M&A transaction, OMNI Retail Enterprises hired Sharon Leite as the new CEO. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because she was the CEO of The Vitamin Shoppe from August 2018 to January 2023. Additionally, Sharon Leite has held leadership positions previously in each of those consumer goods categories, including an 8.5-year stint at the home goods retailer Pier 1 when it had over 1000 stores in North America. But for the final part of this content, I essentially put myself in a hypothetical situation where Sharon calls me up, asks me to take the quick flight from Houston to Dallas, and says give me your Bodybuilding.com transformation pitch. Regardless, I’ve consistently said in numerous content pieces over the years that I believe there’s still value in Bodybuilding.com, but what it doesn’t need is another “let’s do as we’ve always done but a little cheaper and expect better results” owner. My hope is that OMNI Retail Enterprises is the type of transformative thinking organization that has sufficient capital and the patience to make Bodybuilding.com great again. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YOUTUBE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TWITTER⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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