The Economics of Owning a Gym

Planet Fitness charges new members 15 dollars a month, yet the clubs it owns that have been open more than a year bring in about 2 million dollars a year each on average, according to its own annual report. The video opens the books of three gym companies, from membership prices to who owns the clubs.

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Planet Fitness charges new members $15 a month, yet its corporate-owned clubs open more than 12 months average about $2.0 million a year in sales, with a four-wall adjusted EBITDA margin of about 42.7% (35.3% after the current 7% royalty rate). We follow the money: 20.8 million members, 2,896 clubs, 2,604 of them franchised and run by 86 groups; royalties and required equipment that franchisees replace every five to nine years. Plus Life Time's 149 visits per membership, the click-to-cancel rule a court vacated, the boutique studio bet (Xponential: about $554,000 weighted average initial franchisee investment in 2025, licenses sold down from 593 to 67), and the industry in numbers. Facts, not financial advice.

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:35 The $15 Machine
1:42 One Club's Math
2:19 Who Really Gets Paid
3:45 The Members Who Don't Come
4:47 Click to Cancel
5:38 The Boutique Bet
6:28 The Whole Industry
7:13 Three Checks

Sources
- Planet Fitness 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1637207/000163720726000011/plnt-20251231.htm
- Life Time Group Holdings 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1869198/000186919826000010/lth-20251231.htm
- Xponential Fitness 10-K 2025: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1802156/000180215626000016/xpof-20251231.htm
- Eighth Circuit, Custom Communications v. FTC, No. 24-3137 (Jul 8, 2025): https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/25/07/243137P.pdf
- FTC final rule, 91 FR 6507 (Feb 12, 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/02/12/2026-02866
- FTC advance notice, 91 FR 12318 (Mar 13, 2026): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/13/2026-04952
- BLS QCEW 2025, NAICS 713940: https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2025/a/industry/713940.csv
- Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, sector 71: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/economic-census/data/2022/sector71/EC2271BASIC.zip
- SBA 7(a) FOIA data (as of Jun 30, 2026): https://data.sba.gov/sites/default/files/uploaded_resources/FOIA_7a_FY2020_Present_asof_260630.csv

Research and fact-checking: Wealth Filings. Henry is a fictional, illustrated presenter. This video is for information only, not financial advice.