Yahoo Finance David Beckham Is Suing Fitness Company Part-Owned By Mark Wahlberg For Millions
David Beckham is looking to recoup millions of dollars from a fitness brand co-owned by Mark Wahlberg. He claims F45 failed to pay him shares of stock owed to him for promoting the company.
Beckham’s company, DB Ventures, filed suit against the fitness center franchise last April. This week, new court documents filed with the U.S. District Court of Central California made the case public.
In court filings obtained by HuffPost, representatives for Beckham accuse F45 of not meeting their end of a 2020 deal with the soccer star to promote the brand ahead of its initial public offering.
In exchange for promoting F45, Beckham was paid $1.5 million a year and promised substantial amounts of shares in stock, which would be available after the company went public.
In the legal complaint, Beckham’s team alleges F45 delayed key stock transactions for months, causing the athlete to lose millions when the share price dropped.
Beckham’s camp claims that when his shares were finally available, months after originally promised, they were worth $9.3 million less than they would have been if issued in a timely manner.
DB Ventures is asking F45 to pay Beckham $9.3 million for the lost stock value plus an additional $5 million in damages, all with interest.
Responding to the allegations in its own court filing, F45 claimed Beckham did not fulfill his obligations to the brand and is “attempting to benefit from his own wrongdoing and has unclean hands.”
Beckham appears to have been recruited by the brand through his relationship with Wahlberg, who purchased a 36% stake in F45 in 2019.
While announcing his partnership with F45 in a 2021 statement, Beckham said, “I’ve been a fan of the F45 franchise and training model since being introduced by my friend, Mark Wahlberg.”
F45 was founded in 2013 in Australia. It offers intense 45-minute bootcamp-style workouts through a network of franchisee studios. According to its website, there are now more than 2,000 locations in over 50 countries.
