Under Armour To Sell MyFitnessPal For $345 Million, After Acquiring It In 2015 For $475 Million (techcrunch.com) 11
Global fitness giant Under Armour announced this morning that it will be selling MyFitnessPal to investment firm Francisco Partners for $345 million, five and a half years after acquiring it for $475 million. The company also announced that it will be winding down the Endomondo platform which it also acquired at the same time for $85 million. TechCrunch reports: In a press release announcing the news, Under Armour said the reason for this decision was to simplify and focus its brand, keeping it aimed at its "target consumer -- the Focused Performer" in the interest of building "a singular, cohesive UA ecosystem." The fact that Under Armour is selling MyFitnessPal at a discount (not even including five years of inflation and stated MyFitnessPal user growth) indicates there's more to this than just maintaining focus.
It's definitely true that both MyFitnessPal (which claimed 80 million users in 2015 at the time of acquisition, and has more than 200 million users according to today's press release) and Endomondo were aimed at more casual and entry-level fitness users, who might be working out for the first time, or looking to improve their daily health, but aren't likely training for endurance-sport competitions. Under Armour's overall brand image is more associated with professional athletics, and with an enthusiast/semi-pro clientele (or those aspiring to that designation). What's more likely going on here is that Under Armour sees diminishing value in this segment over the long term... The company is going to continue to own and operate the MapMyFitness platform, which includes MapMyRun and MapMyRide.
It's definitely true that both MyFitnessPal (which claimed 80 million users in 2015 at the time of acquisition, and has more than 200 million users according to today's press release) and Endomondo were aimed at more casual and entry-level fitness users, who might be working out for the first time, or looking to improve their daily health, but aren't likely training for endurance-sport competitions. Under Armour's overall brand image is more associated with professional athletics, and with an enthusiast/semi-pro clientele (or those aspiring to that designation). What's more likely going on here is that Under Armour sees diminishing value in this segment over the long term... The company is going to continue to own and operate the MapMyFitness platform, which includes MapMyRun and MapMyRide.
Smart Move (Score:1)
Managing one of those apps makes you a target for ransomware. They also suffered a data breach. Also the only way to profit from that kind of platform is to be a colossal shitbag of a company. I do like their clothes a lot though.
http://investor.underarmour.co... [underarmour.com]
Feel for them (Score:2)
Have to say I know the feeling, similar experience buying a bunch of Jar Jar related merchandise at full price after Star Wars Episode 1.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, half a billion dollars was a bit too much for that app, even though it had a large user base. And it was never a particularly good fit for Under Armour.
It may well have 200 million *registered* users today, but how many active users does it have. Once you're registered, you're going to be counted even if you don't have the app on the phone.
The whole fitness tracker market is complicated today, with various device makers steering you toward their own apps or preferred partners. MyFitnessPal has conn
Re: Feel for them (Score:2)
Yeah, I used it for calorie tracking back at the beginning of this whole covid fiasco. Started a diet at the beginning of February and by summer had lost about 50lbs. Haven't really used it since though.
Re: (Score:2)
I did the "eye roll, jerk-off motion" thing when I launched MFP and it suddenly had Under Armour's prints all over. Yeah UA is "fitness" company but how exactly are they synergizing with it? What are they going to do with the users (who mostly just registered to get into the app)? Like Clippy, be like "hey it looks like you're a lazy piece of shit and gained 20 kilos, I'll go ahead and order a larger shirt for your moobs"
Under Armor (Score:2)
and Under Priced.
The question is, (Score:2)
Endomondo will also be gone :( (Score:2)
They will also shut down Endomondo for good.
https://support.endomondo.com/... [endomondo.com]
Nobody I know use My...whatnot.
EVERY single friend I have use Endomondo.
It is often accompanied by sports-specific or hardware-specific apps: any serious cyclist has Srava, Garmin users are on Connect and so on.
But the casual hikes, walks, runs are all on Endmondo.
I have ~10 years of history there. As a hiker, I use the history a lot to check places and trails that I have been to, etc.
This will hurt, and will be missed.
RIP.
Re: (Score:1)
I know this sucks. If you find a new service that does most of what you want, you can probably use https://tapiriik.com/ [tapiriik.com] to transfer your activities. I used it to migrate from Runkeeper to Strava.
A ripoff all around (Score:1)
How did Under Armour even become a thing? All of their products are grossly overpriced.
Thanks for killing Endomondo, asshole (Score:2)
The fact that Endomondo hadn't been updated in over a year and stopped working on some platforms gave a strong hint that they weren't committed to it. I found that it was quite hard to kick free from the premium service, which was to their discredit.