Hyrox will make its new owners sweat

BYD

10/09/2026 13:00

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.
By Katrina Hamlin
HONG KONG, Sept 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) - As an investment, Hyrox looks injury prone. The novel fitness racing series has a cult-like following, and a consortium led by LVMH-backed L Catterton is betting the franchise is more than a fad. But competitors are already muscling in. That will make it harder for the brand that attracts both gym bunnies and runners to bulk up.
Its competitions have leapt from roughly 700 participants in 2017 to around 1.4 million in the latest season and have won sponsors including Puma PUMG.DE, Red Bull, BYD 002594.SZ and insurer AIA 1299.HK. Creators Christian Toetzke, former CEO of Ironman, and Moritz Fürste, an Olympian, devised a format where individuals or teams alternate between 1km intervals and functional exercises, such as burpees and lunges. A standardised course, typically held in large venues that can accommodate thousands of people, allows athletes to compare times as well as abs across about 100 global events each year. 
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but the sale of a controlling stake, announced on Tuesday by Infront Sports and Media, whose parent is Chinese conglomerate Wanda, may value Hyrox at around €600 million ($697 million), according to Bloomberg. The company’s founders are investing alongside L Catterton. 
Debt-laden Wanda, which first invested in Hyrox via Infront in 2019, may have picked a good moment to bow out. For now, demand is higher than supply: its New York event in May welcomed 50,000 athletes and had a waiting list of more than 21,000, Fürste said in a recent interview. The group is also looking to build revenue from spectator tickets and merchandise.
Yet fitness crazes can be short-lived: Peloton PTON.O, another company L Catterton previously backed, saw paid subscriptions for its online exercise classes slump 8.8% last year. Hyrox athletes will be tempted by new challenges. Even if fitness racing continues to gain credibility as a sport, rivals are stepping up. Race organiser Spartan has a similar competition. In China, a former Hyrox coach held the inaugural event for his new brand BTWE in June.
The group expects sales to reach $270 million this year, per CNBC. That implies a forward price-to-sales multiple above 2.5 – below other listed sports groups like Ultimate Fighting Championship owner TKO TKO.N or Manchester United MANU.N, but still much higher than 1.4 times for event organiser Live Nation LYV.N, and 1 times at Peloton, per Visible Alpha and LSEG data. Problem is, fitness fads can easily trip up. 
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CONTEXT NEWS
Infront Sports & Media on September 8 announced the sale of its majority stake in Hyrox to a consortium led by L Catterton alongside Hyrox founders Christian Toetzke and Moritz Fürste. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bloomberg earlier reported the deal could value Hyrox at around €600 million ($697 million). 
WndrCo, the investment firm founded and led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of DreamWorks and former chair of Walt Disney Studios, and his partner Sujay Jaswa, a former CFO of Dropbox, will also participate in the transaction. 
China’s Dalian Wanda is the majority shareholder of Switzerland-based Infront.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on HAMLIN/katrina.hamlin@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: katrina.hamlin.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))