Playlist and EGYM Complete $7.5B Tie-Up, Reshaping How Locals Find and Use Fitness Services

Playlist, the owner of ClassPass, Mindbody and Booker, has closed a deal to combine with EGYM, the German maker of connected exercise equipment and the corporate wellness service Wellpass, creating a single company valued at $7.5 billion. The transaction, first announced in January, places EGYM under the Playlist umbrella and establishes a co-leadership arrangement between Playlist co-founder Fritz Lanman and EGYM chief executive Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer. For consumers, the merger promises tighter links between booking apps, studio software and machine-driven workouts — features that may change how city residents book classes, how employers subsidize fitness, and what members see on a gym floor.

On the operational side, the union brings together software that runs spas, salons and fitness studios with a consumer marketplace and hardware that delivers workouts in person. Booker provides business tools for service providers, Mindbody powers scheduling and payments across thousands of studios, ClassPass serves as a discovery and booking hub for consumers, and EGYM contributes smart strength machines plus an employer-focused wellness marketplace. Combined, the company aims to cover the full chain from a customer discovering a class to the equipment they use while exercising.

The reach is substantial. Playlist says the combined business will touch millions of users across more than 30 countries and will encompass tens of thousands of partners: roughly 40,000 businesses on Mindbody, about 88,000 ClassPass venues, near 20,000 employer relationships through Wellpass, and some 33,000 locations fitted with EGYM gear. Backers also provided fresh capital as part of the deal: $785 million in new equity came from a group led by Affinity Partners, with participation from Vista Equity Partners, Temasek and L Catterton. That funding is slated to bankroll continued investment in machine learning and to accelerate EGYM’s footprint in North America and Asia.

The move marks a change in Playlist’s earlier path. The company, which had been operating under the Mindbody-ClassPass name and had explored a public offering, rebranded to Playlist in 2025 and instead chose this private consolidation route. Observers note that the financing and strategic shift reflect an industry where scale and integrated technology increasingly determine which platforms survive and grow.

Playlist has already embedded automated features across its brands: scheduling assistants that handle customer inquiries, algorithms to set class capacities, and adaptive training programs that tailor workouts to member goals and available equipment. Company leaders declined to provide specifics about future automated services, but said new capital and the merged product set will be used to expand personalized offerings and regional operations.

Industry analysts view the deal as part of a wave of consolidation in fitness and wellness technology. Over the past two years, major players have been buying specialized apps and niche platforms — moves meant to lock in users and data. EGYM itself bought U.S.-based FitReserve in 2024, and other firms have snapped up workout and nutrition startups. Experts caution that while bundling services can simplify consumer experiences, it also raises questions about competition, privacy of health and activity data, and how revenue will be divided among local studios and equipment suppliers.

For neighborhood gyms and individual users, the combined company could mean smoother booking and more integrated programming — but also greater dependence on a single provider for software, discovery and hardware. Local owners will be watching how pricing, platform access and data sharing evolve as Playlist integrates EGYM’s offerings into its broader service portfolio.