Ben says , "Fear Anthos."

An update and post from Ben Bergeron, Owner of Crossfit New England in Natick, Ma

"Most of you have heard that Anthos, a private investment company, has positioned themselves to purchase 50% of CrossFit Inc. from Lauren Glassman (Coach Greg Glassman’s ex-wife).  The fear is that this company, not understanding what we have, will destroy the nature of what makes our community special.  The rumors have been swirling that Anthos would “franchise” the affiliates, force us to peddle supplements and change the nature of what has made us great."
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The Deal With Anthos Is Waiting For Court Approval!

An interesting article which came out today online. According to this piece:

• "Now, though, the Glassmans are getting a divorce. Greg Glassman is staying on in his role as head of Crossfit. But Lauren has decided to sell her half of the company to a private equity firm called Anthos Capital, for $20 million. This has caused—to state it conservatively—absolute fucking apoplexy and panic among Crossfit leadership and many of its affiliate owners."
•  "..... Paul Farr, managing partner at Anthos, tells Gawker that they already have an agreement with Lauren to purchase her half of Crossfit, subject to court approval. This would make Anthos equal partners with their avowed enemy, Crossfit CEO Greg Glassman. Sounds wacky!
• Read the entire article here!

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CROSSFIT CONTROVERSY-"Affiliates will be forced to sell the Anthos company's endorsed line of products. "

Stop Anthos from Taking over CrossFit

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CrossFitters,

I have some important news for you. Anthos Capital wants to take control of the CrossFit affiliate system. Anthos is offering $20 million to a non-managing equity partner of CrossFit Inc. in order to establish a managing stake in the company. This is important because Anthos does not view CrossFit affiliates the way we all do. Anthos doesn't care about professional trainers improving people's lives; they see CrossFit affiliates as a mechanism to sell more supplements and equipment.

If they succeed, Anthos's first step will be to force all CrossFit affiliates to morph from professional training facilities into supplement and equipment peddlers. In that case, affiliates will lose the right to choose between an array of competing brands such as Rogue, Again Faster, SFH, and Pure Pharma. Affiliates will be forced to sell the Anthos company's endorsed line of products. 

If Anthos gains control of CrossFit, then the CrossFit affiliate system will cease to exist as we know it. Affiliates will no longer pay a minimal licensing fee and manage their own CrossFit gyms as they see fit. Instead, they will report to a domineering bureaucracy that seeks to extract maximal profit from them while micro-managing every significant facet of their business. CrossFit facilities will be run like your neighborhood McDonald's or Gold's Gym.

CrossFit affiliates signed up to provide a revolutionary service for improving people's lives. CrossFit founder Greg Glassman's original vision is stronger today than ever: a network of CrossFit affiliates making peoples' lives better through constantly varied, functional movement at high intensity and teaching them to eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. If Anthos takes over, however, this vision of CrossFit will end. CrossFit affiliates will become part of an organization that is the antithesis of what they believe in.

All this probably sounds a little scary, but the CrossFit community can stop this. CrossFit affiliates have the power here. If CrossFit's affiliates oppose Anthos' actions, then Anthos will never be able to gain control of the community - it doesn't matter how much money they have. And Greg Glassman is 100% committed to keeping CrossFit true to its covenant with affiliates.

If you want to stop Anthos from ruining CrossFit, tell your friends and the CrossFit Affiliate owners you know exactly what Anthos is up to. Make a blog post on your Affiliate's site, post to Facebook, Tweet about it, do whatever it is you like to do to get the word out. Let's let the world know how we feel about Anthos trying to turn CrossFit affiliates into Globo Gyms.

As Greg says, "Never sell out."

READ THE ENTIRE CONVERSATION HERE!!

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