Equinox is a premium fitness brand founded in 1991 in Manhattan by siblings Danny, Vito, and Lavinia Errico. It has been owned by The Related Companies, the real estate firm led by Stephen Ross, since 2006. Equinox grew into a brand portfolio that included SoulCycle, Blink Fitness, and Equinox Hotels, and it sells membership as an identity, not only access to equipment.
By the Everything-PR Editorial Team. Originally published January 2025, rebuilt June 2026. Part of Wellness. Related: Peloton Sold the Bike. Equinox Sold the Identity. Both Almost Died., the Marketing pillar, and the Luxury pillar.
Who founded Equinox, and when?
Danny, Vito, and Lavinia Errico founded Equinox, and the first club opened on September 23, 1991 on Manhattan's Upper West Side, according to Wikipedia's Equinox Group entry. The premise was to charge more than the going rate, deliver visibly better design and equipment, and build a membership among affluent New York professionals who treated a gym as a lifestyle expense.
The Errico siblings grew the company through dense Manhattan coverage before opening in other cities. In December 2000, CEO Harvey Spevak led a management buyout of Equinox to two private equity firms, North Castle Partners and J.W. Childs, according to his published biography.
Who owns Equinox?
The Related Companies owns a majority of Equinox. Related announced a $505 million deal to buy Equinox Holdings in December 2005, as The Real Deal reported, and the principals of Related acquired the company in 2006. Related was already Equinox's landlord at its flagship club in the Time Warner Center, and Stephen Ross had joined the Equinox board in May 2005.
Private equity firm L Catterton became a minority investor in 2017, according to WellFit Insider's ownership summary, which EPR has not independently verified.
What brands has Equinox owned?
Equinox has operated as a portfolio of brands. The table lists the main ones with the dates EPR could verify.
| Brand | What it is | Verified detail |
|---|
| Equinox | Flagship premium fitness clubs | About 100 locations across the United States, London, Toronto, and Vancouver as of May 2019 |
| SoulCycle | Indoor cycling studios | Acquired by Equinox in May 2011 |
| Blink Fitness | Low-cost gym banner | Launched in 2011; filed for Chapter 11 on August 12, 2024; acquired by PureGym for $121 million in December 2024 |
| Equinox Hotels | Hospitality extension | First hotel at Hudson Yards, New York, opened in 2019 |
| PURE Yoga | Premium yoga studios | Part of the portfolio per Equinox company descriptions |
What happened to Blink Fitness?
Blink Fitness filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on August 12, 2024, and PureGym acquired it for $121 million in December 2024, outbidding Planet Fitness in a bankruptcy auction, per Wikipedia. EPR's reading is that running a value brand inside a luxury operator did not work: the capital structures, operating cultures, and customer expectations did not converge. That reading is EPR's analysis.
What was the 2019 Stephen Ross controversy?
In August 2019, Stephen Ross, Related's founder and Equinox's principal owner, came under criticism over a fundraiser for President Donald Trump, according to Wikipedia's Equinox Group entry. Equinox's customer base was affluent and urban, and calls to boycott the brand spread on social media. The brand's position was that Ross's political activity was his own and not Equinox's.
EPR's reading is that a brand sold as identity makes its ownership part of the brand, so an owner's political activity can become a brand event. Equinox's recovery from the episode is not documented on this page.
How has Equinox marketed itself?
Equinox has used provocative, polarizing campaigns to pull in its target customer and push away the wrong one. EPR's view is that the approach works because premium fitness competes in a field where every gym claims clean equipment and friendly staff, so differentiation requires something competitors will not do. The brand's campaign history and celebrity partnerships are not itemized here because EPR has not verified the details.
What does Equinox still have to prove?
Three questions face the brand, in EPR's view.
- Whether member engagement in the clubs returns to pre-2020 levels, since the third-place experience needs people in the building.
- Whether Equinox Hotels can scale beyond its first property, since luxury hospitality runs on longer capital cycles than fitness.
- Whether an identity-led positioning holds against longevity and lifestyle-medicine clinics that sell measurable outcomes to the same affluent audience.
How does Equinox appear in AI answers?
Prospective members now research premium fitness in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. EPR's observation is that Equinox is cited most on cultural-brand queries such as "luxury fitness brands" and "Equinox vs Life Time," and less on longevity and wellness comparisons. This is an EPR observation, not a measured result. See Citation Share for how EPR defines the measure.
