In this Feb. 7, 2013 photo, a man walks past a shuttered New York Sports Club on Water St. in New York. Town Sports International Holdings Inc., the owner of New York Sports Club and Lucille Roberts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday, Sept. 14, 2020, as gym operators struggle to keep afloat amid nationwide shutdowns. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
By Damian J. Troise
The company that runs New York Sports Club and Lucille Roberts gyms filed for bankruptcy protection with COVID-19, still prevalent in man parts of the U.S., gutting membership rolls at fitness companies nationwide.
Gold's Gym sought bankruptcy protection in May and 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide filed for bankruptcy in June. Many companies, including Planet Fitness, furloughed workers in order to conserve cash.
Town Sports International Holdings Inc., which also operates Washington Sports Club and Total Woman Gym and Spa, said Monday that it can no longer pay its debts.
The company lost $136 million during the first quarter this year, only a fraction of which included state- and city-mandated shutdowns of retail shops, gyms, salons, restaurants, and bars. By the end of the three-month reporting period, 95 percent of Town Sports' clubs had been closed.
Town Sports operates 185 clubs and serves 580,000 members, mostly in the Northeast.
Gyms have been allowed to reopen at a fraction of their capacity in some regions like the Northeast. Those who do go to gyms in New York City are required to wear a mask at all times and gyms can only operate at one-third capacity. Group fitness classes are still not permitted.
Yet with more than 33,000 COVID-19 related deaths in New York, most of them in New York City, thousands of one-time gymgoers have taken their routines outdoors, or to their own homes.
Home fitness company Peloton reported a 172 percent surge in revenue during its most recent quarter and it doubled its subscribers. Bike shops in New York, as well as most outdoor fitness gear sellers, have been largely cleared out.
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel joined Cheddar's "Closing Bell" to discuss the online travel company's Q3 earnings beat and the state of the travel industry. The earnings win was a sign that a sense of normalcy is slowly returning, according to Fogel, though he expressed disappointment in the Biden administration's delay allowing international vaccinated travelers into the country. He also predicted that elevated prices in areas like room bookings will remain high as travelers continue to pay more even as occupancy rates remain low.
Fintech firm NerdWallet made its IPO debut on the Nasdaq on Thursday. CEO Tim Chen joined Cheddar to talk about the decision to tap the capital markets now and explained the company's revenue model by taking a cut from financial products like credit cards and loans sold through the site. Chen also talked about the firm's stance on cryptocurrencies, noting it advises people to only invest what they can afford to lose. (Updated November 5, 2021 to reflect that NerdWallet went public on Nasdaq, not NYSE.)
New York City taxi drivers won a major victory to slash the cost of money owed for taxi medallions. The announcement follows a two-week long hunger strike at City Hall by some drivers to demand debt relief.
Moderna reported a massive miss on revenue in its Q3 earnings, taking in $5 billion versus the expected $6.21 billion despite sales of the COVID-19 vaccine. The pharmaceutical giant's stock dropped sharply on the news.
Joan E. Solsman, a senior reporter at CNET, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about Netflix moving to offer mobile video games for Android users as part of their subscription. She said this is likely one "baby step" for the streaming giant as it moves into the space. "You can see what Netflix wants to do eventually down the line is have these great ambitions to make their service be more than just passive TV, movies," she said. "They're moving more into merchandising, that they're moving more into in-person experiences. They're trying to broaden a way, which is a great thing to do when everyone keeps talking about metaverses."
CVS is working to become a major health care provider as the pharmacy chain adds doctors to its payroll, following a trend among pharmacies like Walgreens integrating more primary health care services.
Insurance tech company Lemonade is now offering automobile coverage, and CEO Daniel Schreiber joined Cheddar to talk about the company's commitment to not investing in "coal or other pollutant industries." He noted that the new product was incentivizing car insurance in "an environmentally responsible way." Schreiber also discussed expanding coverage beyond pet, life, and home insurance, and how it has impacted business since going public.
Arpan Parikh, psychiatrist and senior director of clinical experience for Ro Mind, joins Cheddar News to discuss
the new digital mental health platform for anxiety and depression.
