Liberty Media acquires a controlling interest in Bodybuilding.com
Liberty Media Corp. has acquired a controlling interest in Bodybuilding.com LLC, a web-only fitness Internet retailer and online educational resource and community. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Liberty Media made the acquisition to enhance its overall web strategy, the company says. The retail and entertainment and news media company operates QVC Inc., No. 14 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, and IAC/InterActiveCorp., No. 26.
“Bodybuilding.com is a fast-growing leader in fitness nutrition e-commerce and the authentic voice of the bodybuilding community, as demonstrated by the success of BodySpace, the social network for bodybuilding athletes,” says Michael Zeisser, senior vice president of Liberty Media. “We look forward to driving collaboration among Bodybuilding.com and Liberty’s existing e-commerce and television companies.”
Bodybuilding.com, No. 152 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, is a community-centric e-commerce business highly complementary with many of Liberty Media’s other properties, says Bodybuilding.com CEO Ryan DeLuca. “We believe our strength in social networking and our well-established brand relationships will be highly relevant to Liberty,” he says. “We are committed to working with Liberty and its affiliate management to pursue numerous mutual, highly definable and actionable growth opportunities.”
Bodybuilding.com reached revenue of $65 million in 2006, a 39.5% increase over $46.6 million in 2005. Launched in 1999, the e-retailer and information resource, which also operates TeenBodybuilding.com, sells more than 6,000 products, including supplements, clothing, tanning supplies, accessories and other bodybuilding products that represent more than 450 brands.
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