BowFlex Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Agrees to Sell for $37.5 Million

The home fitness equipment company BowFlex, based in Vancouver, Washington, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Per Reuters, part of the filing was an agreement of sale to Johnson Health Tech for $37.5 million.

Per court filings, BowFlex’s downfall was a roller coaster of events that stemmed from the home fitness boom during the COVID-19 lockdowns beginning in March 2020. In 2021, BowFlex increased its production to meet the increased demand of those who could not train at closed gyms during mass quarantine.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by BowFlex (@bowflex)

However, once lockdowns were lifted, BowFlex faced large-scale canceled orders from retailers and a fitness landscape filled with new competitors vying to capitalize on that fitness boom. The result was the unsold inventory of BowFlex equipment and Schwinn bicycles, leading to “$140 million in assets and $126 million in liabilities” upon entering bankruptcy, as filed in Camden, New Jersey.

Though there is an agreement of sale to Johnson Health Tech, BowFlex “will conduct a bankruptcy auction to see if any buyer is willing to pay more” than $37.5 million. As of 2020, BowFlex had over 420 employees but has dropped closer to 330 after laying off 15 percent of its workforce in 2023.

About BowFlex

The first machine BowFlex’s first product was the BowFlex 2000X, created in 1986 after BowFlex acquired Nautilus, Inc. from the inventor of Nautilus machines, Arthur Jones. BowFlex merged with Stratford Software Corporation in 1993 to become a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Five years later, it issued an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq. Five years after that, it shifted to the New York Stock Exchange, and its name was changed to Nautilus, Inc. It reverted the name to BowFlex in November 2023 after selling the Nautilus brand for $10.5 million.