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Equinox
Founded 1991 · 10,028 employees on LinkedIn · 4 known investors
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Equinox operates luxury fitness clubs offering unlimited signature group classes, 1:1 personal training, Pilates, and spa and recovery amenities. It also provides Equinox+, an app with live and on-demand fitness classes.
Also known as Equinox Fitness Clubs · Equinox Group · Equinox Holdings, Inc.
Founders & leadership
Equinox was founded in 1991 by Lavinia Errico.
Investors · 4
How we know: Leonard Green's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
Also in the syndicate · 1
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Equinox Holdings, Inc. is an American luxury fitness and health club company headquartered in New York City. It operates more than 300 club facilities in major US cities as well as in London, Toronto and Vancouver, and offers digital classes through the Equinox+ app.
The group runs a portfolio of lifestyle brands including Equinox, Equinox Hotels, Precision Run, Project by Equinox, Equinox Explore, Equinox Media, Furthermore, Pure Yoga, Blink Fitness and SoulCycle. Club offerings span strength and cardio training, group fitness classes, personal training, spa services and products, apparel and food and juice bars.
Ownership sits with a group of investors including executive chairman and managing partner Harvey Spevak, principals of Related Companies, L Catterton and Silver Lake. Marc Mastronardi serves as president. The company reported revenue of about $2 billion in 2025 and had more than 10,000 employees as of 2023.
Founding story
Co-founder Lavinia Errico grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey in a large Italian family, worked the register in her father's Manhattan delis as a child, trained as a dancer, and taught fitness classes while attending the University of Southern California. Her brothers were athletes and the family kept a universal gym in the basement, making exercise part of household culture. After returning to New York, unimpressed with the city's workout scene at the time, she pursued a studio location in New Jersey with her brother negotiating on her behalf; she and her brothers Danny and Vito went on to found Equinox, whose first club opened in 1991. Errico later sold her stake and has since founded the Inside Out Movement, Joylift and MOVEJOY.
Business model
Equinox operates owned health clubs on a paid-membership basis, supplemented by personal training, group fitness classes, spa services, apparel and food/juice bars, and by digital subscription content through the Equinox+ app. It has grown both organically and by acquiring or launching adjacent brands at different price points and formats, including Blink Fitness, SoulCycle, Pure Yoga and Equinox Hotels.
Recurring club membership fees plus ancillary revenue from personal training, spa, retail and food and beverage, digital subscriptions via Equinox+, and hospitality through Equinox Hotels.
Traction
More than 300 clubs across the US, London, Toronto and Vancouver; over 10,000 employees as of 2023; approximately $2 billion in revenue in 2025, compared with $650 million in pandemic-affected 2020.
Latest developments
Reported revenue of approximately $2 billion in 2025. In 2025 Equinox entered a $600,000 settlement with the state of New York over membership cancellation practices. In 2026 it announced plans for its first Georgia club in Atlanta's Buckhead Village, a redevelopment that displaced several local businesses. Blink Fitness, which Equinox launched, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2024 and was acquired by PureGym for $121 million in December 2024.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
One of the largest and most prominent luxury fitness operators, characterized in press coverage as the largest luxury fitness business in the world, with roughly $2 billion in 2025 revenue and a portfolio of more than 300 clubs plus adjacent hotel, yoga, cycling and digital brands.
Equinox positions at the luxury end of the fitness market, described as the largest luxury fitness business in the world, combining trophy club real estate in major markets with integrated programming, spa, retail and food offerings, an owned multi-brand stable spanning price points and formats, and extensions into hotels, coworking and digital content.
Technology
Digital delivery through the Equinox+ app, which provides on-demand and streaming classes; the Equinox+ and Equinox apps were combined to give members at-home access to SoulCycle, Pure Yoga and Rumble content.
Go-to-market
Membership sales at owned clubs in dense, affluent urban markets, extended through acquisitions of competing club portfolios, sub-brands aimed at different segments, and a digital app channel; brand campaigns such as the 2023 refusal of New Year's Day sign-ups have attracted wide press attention.
Upscale urban consumers seeking full-service fitness and wellness, with lower-priced segments served historically through Blink and adjacent audiences via Pure Yoga, SoulCycle and Equinox Hotels.
Geography
Headquartered in New York City, with more than 300 clubs in major US cities plus London, Toronto and Vancouver. Historically concentrated in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Dallas and Washington DC, with a first Georgia location announced for Atlanta's Buckhead Village in 2026.
History
The first Equinox club opened on September 23, 1991 in Manhattan's Upper West Side, founded by siblings Danny, Vito and Lavinia Errico. Harvey Spevak became CEO in 1999 and in 2000 led a management buyout that placed the company with private equity firms North Castle Partners and J.W. Childs. In 2006 Spevak partnered with principals of Related Companies to acquire a controlling interest, and in 2017 the company secured a significant minority investment from L Catterton. Equinox brought Pure Yoga to the US from Hong Kong in 2008, launched the value-priced Blink chain in early 2011, acquired SoulCycle in May 2011, closed on the assets of The Sports Club Company in October 2011, and acquired six Sports Club/LA Reebok Sports Clubs in 2014. In July 2019 it opened Equinox Hotels at Hudson Yards alongside its 100th club and the Industrious at Equinox coworking venture. Silver Lake funded the Equinox+ digital platform in 2020. Merger talks with SPAC Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. VI ended in 2021 over valuation. Blink Fitness filed for Chapter 11 in August 2024 and was sold to PureGym for $121 million in December 2024.
Risks & controversies
Equinox and SoulCycle have been accused of making memberships hard to cancel, leading to a $600,000 settlement with New York State in 2025. A 2019 New York Times report described trainers working up to 80 hours a week, sometimes sleeping in locker rooms or cars, and facing pressure to recruit and retain clients; in 2013 the company settled two California unpaid-overtime lawsuits out of court. Equinox and SoulCycle faced boycott calls after a Trump fundraiser hosted by Related Companies founder Stephen Ross, whom the companies described as a passive investor. The 2023 New Year's Day membership ban drew criticism, as did the displacement of local businesses in the Buckhead Village redevelopment. The company posted a $350 million loss on $650 million of revenue in 2020 due to pandemic club closures, and its SPAC merger talks collapsed over valuation in 2021.
Compiled by commissioned research from 6 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
The Equinox mafia →11 people who came through Equinox went on to found or lead other companies.
Timeline · 15
launches, deals, and filingsEquinox announced plans to open its first Georgia club in Atlanta's Buckhead Village; the redevelopment displaced several local businesses, whose owners said they were given limited time to vacate.
Equinox entered into a $600,000 settlement with the state of New York following accusations that Equinox and SoulCycle made it difficult for members to cancel subscriptions.
$600K source ↗
Equinox banned gym memberships submitted on January 1, 2023, saying the purpose was to snub short-term resolutions; the campaign drew both praise and criticism.
Equinox Holdings ended merger discussions with publicly traded Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. VI, backed by Chamath Palihapitiya, reportedly over disagreement on the valuation of the combined company; Equinox had been seeking a valuation of $7 billion or more.
Equinox received funding from private equity firm Silver Lake for its Equinox+ digital platform; the Equinox+ and Equinox apps were later combined, giving members at-home access to SoulCycle, Pure Yoga and Rumble content.
Equinox launched Equinox Hotels in Hudson Yards, Manhattan; the same year Spevak opened the brand's 100th club at Hudson Yards along with the coworking venture Industrious at Equinox.
Equinox secured a significant minority investment from private equity firm L Catterton.
The company acquired six Sports Club/LA Reebok Sports Clubs.
Equinox closed its acquisition of the assets of The Sports Club Company, including four The Sports Club/LA properties in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Orange County and New York's Rockefeller Center, bringing it to 55 clubs in the top eight US markets. Clubs were to be rebranded to Equinox over six months with a multi-million dollar investment.
Equinox acquired SoulCycle in May 2011; a contemporaneous release described it as a strategic partnership with SoulCycle, then operating seven locations including New York City and the Hamptons.
Equinox launched Blink, a separate lower-price fitness company offering strength and cardio equipment; Blink launched in early 2011.
Equinox brought Pure Yoga to the United States from Hong Kong.
Spevak partnered with Related Companies chairman principals to acquire a controlling interest in Equinox.
Harvey Spevak led a management buyout of Equinox to private equity firms North Castle Partners and J.W. Childs.
The Errico family — Danny, Vito and Lavinia Errico — opened the first Equinox location in Manhattan's Upper West Side.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 6
primary sources listed
- Ep 01 | Lavinia Errico — Behind Her Empirebehindherempire.com · web
6 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Equinox do?
- Equinox is a New York-based luxury fitness company operating 300+ health clubs plus hotel, yoga, cycling and digital brands.
- Who founded Equinox?
- Equinox was founded by Lavinia Errico in 1991.
- Who are Equinox's investors?
- Equinox's investors include Leonard Green, North Castle Partners, L Catterton.