One of Ontario’s first CrossFit affiliate gyms has cut ties with the Washington D.C.-based fitness brand, following controversial statements attributed to CrossFit founder Greg Glassman about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests.
“We’re only changing the sign out front, that’s it,” says Chris Cooper, owner of Sault Ste. Marie’s Catalyst Fitness.
Cooper isn’t saying much about the reasons for his disaffiliation from CrossFit.
He continues to run Two-Brain Business, a membership platform providing business advice to more than 850 CrossFit gyms worldwide.
But he and many other CrossFit operators disaffiliated this week following a two-word tweet by Glassman.
Responding to a statement from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation that said “racism is a public health issue,” Glassman replied “It’s Floyd-19.”
In just two words, the Crossfit chief executive officer had managed to mix two incendiary issues: the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd, whose death two weeks ago at the hands of Minneapolis police officers resulted in global protests.
Glassman has since apologized, but it was too little, too late.
Tuesday evening, he announced his resignation, admitting he had caused “a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members.”
Buzzfeed News reported Tuesday it had obtained a full recording of a private Zoom meeting in which Glassman told gym owners: “We’re not mourning for George Floyd – I don’t think me or any of my staff are.”
“It’s a personal decision,” Cooper tells SooToday. “No past indications of anything or history of discrimination in the brand.”
“Please don’t infer anything about CrossFit.com or its founder from my post,” Cooper said.
“I’m not going to comment on the reasons one way or another.”
“I have to be as diplomatic as possible. Some will choose to de-affiliate, some won’t.”
“It’s a weird situation. CrossFit affiliates are licensees [with] zero restrictions on use of the term. But I also work with hundreds of his licensees.”
In a social media post, Cooper said he first become aware of CrossFit in 2007.
“We set out to prove that it didn’t work. But it did. Our clients got amazing results. So we became an affiliate – one of the first in Ontario.”
“Then I got hired to work for CrossFit as a writer. I went to Kenya and St. Jude. I saw the good work there. I learned. For awhile, I was enamored with the brand and the method. But that didn’t last.”
By two years ago, Cooper wanted out
“I was ready to deaffiliate. But I couldn’t separate the method from the brand. And I thought that I could help other gym owners more from the inside than from the outside, so I stayed.”
“Microgym owners have just proven their value to the world. They helped clients get through COVID while the big chains locked down. They’re providing spaces for unity and equality while the CrossFit brand is not.”
“It’s time to tell a new story,” he said. “I hope you’ll tell it with me.”
Reebok has announced it won’t renew a lucrative 10-year partnership with CrossFit.
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
