David Beckham has settled a lawsuit against a fitness company co-owned by Mark Wahlberg after he accused it of losing him millions of dollars.
DB Ventures Limited – Beckham’s company – filed lawsuit against F45 Training in October 2022, claiming that the company owed money for promotional social media posts.
The former Manchester United and England star entered into a five-year contract with the company co-owned by Hollywood star Wahlberg in 2020 when he became a bran ambassador.
Inter Miami co-owner Beckham said he’d was set to receive compensation of $1.5 million a year.
His contract also allegedly granted him shares in the fitness company, to be issued six months and 12 months after the company went public in 2021.
In the complaint, DB Ventures claimed: “Despite DBVL upholding its end of the bargain… F45 failed to issue substantial cash and equity compensation to DBVL as required by the parties’ agreement.”
F45 was accused of failing to hand over the shares it owed for eight months following the original date given, during which time they had dropped in price by an estimated $9.3 million.
DBVL claimed this cost Beckham $10.8 million in potential profit.
Beckham’s company asked the court to award $5 million, $4.5 million and $1.7 million for claims listed in the lawsuit, all relating to breach of contract.
F45 initially attempted to have the lawsuit thrown out, accusing DB Ventures Limited of having a ‘skewed reading’ of the contract.
However the case moved ahead and was set to go to trial in 2025, until the companies announced on 6 June that they had reached a settlement.
In a press release, Dan Dienst, executive vice chairman of Authentic Brands Group, on behalf of DB Ventures Limited, said: “We are pleased to have settled this issue and to retain our investment in F45, and wish the team all the best for the future.”
Tom Dowd, CEO of F45 Training, said: “For a long time, F45 has been – and continues to be – a supporter of Beckham, as he has been for our brand, and are pleased to have reached a mutual business decision to resolve the matter.
“We remain committed to supporting the growth of our global franchisees as demonstrated by our recent strong year-over-year same store sales growth in April of 9.4 percent (F45), 14.9 percent (FS8 Pilates) and 41.7 percent (VAURA Pilates).
“We are excited about our future and the continued growth of our world-class fitness brands that generated robust total system-wide sales for April of $48.9 million.”
The press release added that Beckham’s company will remain an investor in F45 Training going forward.
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Source: USA Today
