Bodybuilding.com lays off Boise workers but won’t discuss them. Here’s what we know
Some employees at Boise’s Bodybuilding.com have lost their jobs, the Idaho Statesman has learned.
An unknown number of workers were laid off Thursday from the online nutrition and weightlifting-supplement dealer, according to an employee who was laid off. The employee declined to be identified, saying he signed a nondisclosure agreement.
A second employee confirmed the layoffs to the Statesman but provided no details. It’s not known how many employees remain at the company.
The e-commerce company, which was sold last July to Expedia, declined to comment. “Out of respect to our team members and in accordance with our corporate policy, we are unable to comment on employment related matters,” Raquel Krol, the company’s chief people officer, said in an emailed statement.
A Statesman request to speak to Jas Krdzalic, Bodybuilding.com’s CEO, was declined.
Capital High School graduate Ryan DeLuca started Bodybuilding.com in his garage in 1999 and built it into one of Idaho’s most successful technology-based startups. The business moved into a new building near the intersection of Cloverdale Road and Chinden Boulevard in 2013.
DeLuca sold the company to a unit of Liberty Media but remained as CEO until 2015, when he stepped down. Bodybuilding.com told the Statesman in 2015 that it was on pace to reach $500 million in sales that year.
DeLuca was succeeded by Richard Jalichandra, who led a restructuring in December 2016 that brought the layoff of at least 90 workers.
Liberty replaced Jalichandra with Krdzalic in February 2017. In April 2019, Liberty agreed to sell Bodybuilding.com and several other Liberty businesses to Expedia.
Expedia reported $24 million in revenue from Bodybuilding.com in the roughly two months from the closing date of July 26 through Sept. 30, the latest period for which Expedia has reported results. That appears to reflect a steep sales decline from what the company reported five years ago.
Besides supplements, Bodybuilding.com sells clothing and accessories for working out. It has a subscription program, BodyFit, that gives users access to workout videos. The site’s “About Us” page says it’s the “world’s largest online fitness store” and the “most-visited fitness site worldwide.”
This story was updated Feb. 6, 2020, to include Bodybuilding.com’s sales as reported in Expedia’s latest earnings report.
Business Editor David Staats contributed.
This story was originally published January 30, 2020 at 5:36 PM.
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