Adam Gilchrist: F45 founder sells Byron Bay home for $11million

F45 founder Adam Gilchrist has listed a third house, in the exclusive Byron Bay enclave of Wategos Beach, for sale for between $10m and $11m

The founder of global fitness empire F45, Adam Gilchrist, has listed his Byron Bay guest house for between $10 million and $11 million – the third property of his to go on the market in weeks. 

Gilchrist has kept a low profile since stepping down from the Mark Wahlberg-backed fitness empire after he left the business and its share price plunged more than 60 per cent. 

Gilchrist’s Byron Bay house – at exclusive Wategos Beach – lies behind his $18.85million trophy home ‘Wategos House’ which Mr Gilchrist bought in 2019, smashing local property records. 

The three-bedroom house, which is listed from between $10m and $11m, straddles two frontages and was bought for $5.1m in 2020 via a firm that also looked after Mr Gilchrist’s and F45’s Australian company interests. 

Both of Mr Gilchrist’s Freshwater Beach houses sold ahead of their auction dates.     

The Wategos Beach guest house (above) has three bedrooms and two frontages just a short walk from  the sand at one of Australia's most exclusive oceanfront enclaves

The Wategos Beach guest house (above) has three bedrooms and two frontages just a short walk from  the sand at one of Australia’s most exclusive oceanfront enclaves

Mr Gilchrist sold his Freshwater beach house (right) for $14m soon after F45 suffered a stock market bloodbath and he walked away with a $10m payout, and then the neighbouring bungalow (left) a few weeks ago for more than $8m

Mr Gilchrist sold his Freshwater beach house (right) for $14m soon after F45 suffered a stock market bloodbath and he walked away with a $10m payout, and then the neighbouring bungalow (left) a few weeks ago for more than $8m

Mr Gilchrist walked away from F45 with a $10million golden handshake amid the near collapse of the cult-like celebrity gym in a share market bloodbath in July.

He hasn’t been heard from publicly since. 

Even his onetime close business partner – his co-founder Rob Deutsch – admitted in August that he didn’t know where Adam Gilchrist was, telling Daily Mail Australia he hadn’t spoken with him ‘in two to three years’. 

‘I am told he… changed numbers etcetera, so might be tough to get a hold of nowadays,’ Mr Deutsch said. 

F45’s financial woes have been linked to a possible cash drain in the US by the recruitment of celebrities and sports stars for multi million dollar endorsements. 

Mr Gilchrist’s payout was said to include 12 months’ rent on his Florida mansion and 18 months of health insurance for his family. 

There is no suggestion that Mr Gilchrist has anything to hide in connection with F45.  

F45 co-founder Rob Deutsch (above with his wife, model Nicole Person) said he hadn't seen Adam Gilchrist for two to three years

F45 co-founder Rob Deutsch (above with his wife, model Nicole Person) said he hadn’t seen Adam Gilchrist for two to three years

Soccer star David Beckham was paid $US5m and was due another payment, but celebrity endorsements may have cash drained F45

Celebrity ambassadors like soccer star David Beckham (above) were paid in millions of cash or shares to turbocharge the branch, but may have drained the company of financial underpinning

Mr Deutsch ‘transitioned out’ of the company two-and-a-half years ago with a $US2.5million ‘transaction bonus’ after amassing a formidable property empire worth more than $20million, including a beachfront family home in Bronte which sold last year for $17.7million.

The two men, who are old rugby mates, teamed up to create F45 out of the Rollex gym in Sydney’s White City which Mr Deutsch had set up in 2012 with a $100,000 redundancy cheque from his former life as an equities sales trader.

The pair rebranded Rollex as F45 and established the gyms’ franchise model which set what would become a fitness business juggernaut on its upward trajectory. 

As Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed earlier this year, Gilchrist (not to be confused with the cricketer of the same name) was officially bankrupt when he launched the cult gym. 

But Mr Gilchrist steadily acquired property and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle as F45 became an international success.

He hobnobbed with celebrities and netted $500million overnight when actor Mark Wahlberg invested $450million in F45.

The gym was floated on the New York stock exchange in July last year in a $US1.6 billion stock market debut which saw the share price soared to $17.28. 

Adam Gilchrist, 44, has dropped off social media since walking away from F45 with a $10m golden handshake and according to his co-founder is hard to find

Adam Gilchrist, 44, has dropped off social media since walking away from F45 with a $10m golden handshake and according to his co-founder is hard to find

The view from Wategos House, the trophy mansion Adam Gilchrist bought for $18.85m smashing property records in 2019

The view from Wategos House, the trophy mansion Adam Gilchrist bought for $18.85m smashing property records in 2019

Mark Wahlberg recruited David Beckham in 2021 as a global ambassador for $US5m, with a similar amount ($7.2 million) in a cash payment due to the soccer star in July this year, on the first anniversary of the share float.

Basketball legend Magic Johnson received a cash payment of $US4m, golfer Greg Norman was another sport celebrity recruit and supermodel Cindy Crawford received $US5m of stock.

Other high-profile celebrity endorsements paid for in cash or shares included actor Mario Lopez, singer J Balvin and DJ Steve Aoki. 

But these celebrity deals wagered to ‘turbocharge its now-abandoned global expansion plans’ may have been cash-draining exercises which led to the July 26 market update stating F45 had ‘lost the financing underpinning its franchise sales’, Nine newspapers reported.

Now, instead of expansion, F45 plans to slash staff and downgrade earnings and revenue forecasts for the financial year 2022-2023.

Staff have already been cut in Australia, with up to 110 corporate employees losing their jobs after the stock crash and further cutbacks mooted. 

Mr Gilchrist was made bankrupt in April 2011, and at the time lived in a comparatively shabby Sydney eastern suburbs unit, albeit with Elizabeth Bay views, with a tiny kitchen and one bathroom.

There is no suggestion Mr Gilchrist acted contrary to the terms of his bankruptcy by founding the business.  

By mid-2021, F45 had 1,555 studios and 2,801 franchises across 63 countries, and aimed to ultimately have 23,000 studios worldwide. 

The company’s cult following was based on its 45-minute group training workouts that combined resistance, metabolic and cardio movements in a fun and accessible environment.

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