Mindbody Plans to Tackle On-Demand Fitness Videos, CEO Says
*By Chloe Aiello*
Fitness and beauty booking tool Mindbody is planning to make a play for the next big thing in wellness ー on-demand video, CEO Rick Stollmeyer told Cheddar on Thursday.
"You can expect us to be playing in that space, because we think that the on-demand and streaming video revolution hitting the fitness space is a big breakthrough," Stollmeyer said.
Mindbody ($MB) is a technology platform for beauty and wellness companies that provides cloud-based booking, payment, marketing, and business management software. It supports thousands of clients, like PureBarre, ClassPass, and CorePower Yoga, and boasts millions of registered users.
Many of Mindbody's customers are already offering on-demand videos of fitness classes that allow buffs to take them whenever and wherever they want.
"What these \[brands\] are reporting back to us and what we are seeing is that actually it is causing far more accretion of additional people into these businesses than it is cannibalizing them away to stay at home," he added.
Rather than opt out of in-person classes, fitness class patrons are using them to supplement their practice or ease their way into a new type of workout.
"Being able to access this content on-demand from the comfort of my living room means that I can take classes when it's more convenient perhaps. And perhaps for some people who aren't yet ready to go into that class live, \[they\] can experience what it's like, get comfortable with the notion of it, and then they'll convert into customers at the brick-and-mortar locations," Stollmeyer said.
The CEO wouldn't say when the company plans on launching an on-demand service, but he did say the company is "deeply interested" and the platform is "perfectly positioned for it."
His comments come hot on the heels of [the company's announcement](https://www.mindbodyonline.com/company/press/mindbody-enters-into-definitive-agreement-to-be-acquired-by-vista-equity-partners-for) in late December it had entered a definitive agreement with Vista Equity to be acquired for $1.9 billion. The deal would take the company private about 3.5 years after [its 2015 Nasdaq debut](https://www.nasdaq.com/article/mindbody-mb-goes-public-stock-closes-below-ipo-price-stocks-in-the-news-cm488973).
"What we see happening with Vista, these folks have some amazing best practices, they can help us further improve our operations ... they know how to create value, so we see this as a win-win for everyone involved, and most importantly for our customers," Stollmeyer said.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2019.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/mindbody-keeps-your-business-model-in-tip-top-shape).
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