The story
The BowFlex grew out of a now-expired patent first conceived by an Ethiopian engineering student in the United States, named Tessema Dosho Shifferaw. BowFlex of America, Inc. began marketing the first product, BowFlex 2000X in 1986. Instead of conventional weights or pulley machines, the original BowFlex machine used a combination of polymer rods to create constant resistance or tension.
BowFlex of America merged with Stratford Software Corporation, USA in 1993 and changed its name to BowFlex, Inc. It became a public company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In 1998, the company changed its name to Direct Focus, Inc. and initiated an IPO on Nasdaq. With the success of BowFlex, the company bought Nautilus International, Inc., Schwinn Fitness, and Stairmaster. In 2002, the company moved to the NYSE and renamed itself The Nautilus Group, then Nautilus, Inc.
The company changed its name from Nautilus, Inc. to BowFlex Inc. and refreshed the BowFlex® brand identity in 2023.
In March 2024, BowFlex declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing poor post-COVID sales for its collapse. Taiwan-based Johnson Health Tech purchased the company for $37.5 million after approval from the bankruptcy court in April 2024.
From Wikipedia’s article on Bowflex, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4