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Did you know that Kayla Itsines sold her app, her fitness app Sweat for $200 million and then bought it back?

@kafandcomarketing

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Why it worked

The video leverages a high-profile business success story to provide contrarian advice on founder-led branding, which resonates with entrepreneurial audiences.

Summary

The creator discusses the business journey of Kayla Itsines, who sold her fitness app Sweat for $200 million and later bought it back for a lower price. The video explores the viability of selling founder-led brands.

Structure

1Introduction of the Kayla Itsines business story
2Explanation of the sale and subsequent decline under corporate ownership
3Details on the buy-back at a lower price
4Analysis of the strategy for founder-led brands

On-screen text

Looks pretty, but did it make you any f*cking sales? Kayla Itsines' founder marketing sold Sweat for $200M, watched the buyer wreck it, then let her buy it back for a fraction.

Transcript

Did you know that Kayla Itsines sold her app, her fitness app Sweat for $200 million and then bought it back? The good thing is she bought it back for much less, which means ultimately she won. Kayla built Sweat from nothing, her face, her community from Adelaide, she just started it. And during the pandemic peak for the brand or for the app, she sold it to a US corporate, but then everything started to go downhill. Under corporate ownership, the brand and business basically just lost its steam. So she decided to buy it back for a fraction of the price that she sold it for and she still owns it today. So when everyone's freaking out about the fact that if you're a founder-face brand, you can't actually sell it, doesn't this outweigh the cons, sell it and then buy it back for a fraction of the price?

Original caption

@Kayla Itsines and Tobi Pearce sold @SWEAT to @iFIT for a reported $200M. Less than 3 years later they bought it back for a fraction. In March 2026, Kayla became the sole owner of the brand she built. Her founder marketing built the brand, sold the brand, and bought it back. #marketing #marketingstrategy #marketingconsultant #marketingandsales #businessownertiktok