Ryan DeLuca is an entrepreneur and founder of Bodybuilding.com. He originally owned the company as it reported revenues of almost $500 million before stepping down from the CEO position in 2015.
E&Y named DeLuca ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2009, and his net worth is approximately $100 million.
Name Ryan DeLuca
Date of Birth: December 9th, 1977 (44 years old)
Place of Birth: Carrollton, Georgia
Height: 6 feet 0 inches (1.8 meters)
Profession: Entrepreneur, businessman
Marital Status: Married
Children: 0
Parents: Russ DeLuca (father), mother unknown
Net Worth Estimate: $100 million
Net Worth
An exact figure of DeLuca’s net worth is unknown. However, it is speculated to be approximately $100 million.
DeLuca derives most of his net worth from his website, Bodybuilding.com. In 2008, the Liberty Media Corporation took a stake in the company for approximately $100 million (1).
Before selling the domain, Inc Magazine included DeLuca in their list of “America’s Coolest Entrepreneurs” under the age of 30 in 2006.
DeLuca ranked number 5 out of the 30 individuals on their list. Similarly, in 2009, E&Y named DeLucas their Entrepreneur of the Year for the Utah and Idaho areas (2).
However, DeLuca faced legal issues in 2007 after an investigation by the FDA.
They bought some of the company’s dietary supplements and performed scientific tests on them, discovering that they had trace amounts of anabolic steroids. As a result, the FDA fined Bodybuilding.com $7 million.
Additionally, DeLuca was personally given a fine of $600,000, along with his brother, for selling drugs that were not correctly labelled (3).
Company
DeLuca started Bodybuilding.com in 1997 after buying the domain for approximately $20,000.This was originally a loan, but within a year of opening in 1999, DeLuca made enough money from Bodybuilding.com to pay off the loan with interest (4).
He also sailed that he created the company “with almost zero startup capital and no outside investors,” indicating that most of the initial revenue went to the company itself (5).
The website became quite successful, and, in DeLuca’s own words, it “was immediately recognized as the biggest social network for bodybuilding and fitness” (6).
Although the company’s revenue is unclear, in 2005, IncMagazine included Bodybuilding.com on its list of 500 private companies with the fastest growth (7).
In 2006, Milestone Partners gained a major stake in the company.
However, the exact figure is unknown (8). Two years later, Liberty Media also acquired a stake in the company, which became the largest share. They paid $100 million for this stake (9).
By 2013, the company had reported revenue of approximately $420 million per year (10). The following year, Bodybuilding.com had generated revenue of approximately $500 million (11).
However, the US Justice Department penalized Bodybuilding.com in 2012 after it emerged that the site had been mislabelled drugs on its website. The company was forced to pay $7 million for this, and DeLuca was personally fined $600,000 (12). In 2015, DeLuca left the company (13).
Six months after leaving Bodybuilding.com, DeLuca created Black Box VR, a company specializing in delivering virtual reality gym experiences. The exact revenue for the company is unknown, although it is speculated to be around $4.2 million (14).
Earnings
It is unclear how much money DeLuca personally made from Bodybuilding.com. However, he was fined $600,000 in 2012 and was able to pay this without any issues, suggesting that his salary was much higher than this (15).
Additionally, DeLuca also donated approximately $20,000 to charity in 2017, indicating he had much higher earnings than this (16).
Real Estate
DeLuca currently lives on W Two Rivers Lane in Eagle, Idaho (17). He bought the house in 2009, and it has four bedrooms.
The house also features four garages and is part of a private gated community. It is valued at approximately $3,317,900 and is 9,265 square feet (18).
Through his company, DeLuca owned a 98,574 square foot premises in Idaho. This was sold in 2019 for approximately $15.25 million after DeLuca left the company (19).
Early Life
DeLuca was born on December 9th, 1977, in Carrollton, Georgia. His father’s name was Russ, but his mother’s name was unknown. Equally, their jobs are also unclear.
However, DeLuca eventually moved to Idaho at some point prior to establishing Bodybuilding.com.
Career
It is unclear what DeLuca did at college, but he does appear to have studied there. While in college, DeLuca made some extra income by selling creatine supplements. Originally, this business was relatively small-scale, as he simply sold these supplements out of his garage.
However, his business began to grow at the same time that the Internet began becoming more popular.
DeLuca became interested in email lists and questions regarding fitness, as well as reading muscle magazines. He said that he became interested in having a conversation with other people over the Internet about fitness.
Eventually, in 1997, DeLuca decided to create Bodybuilding.com. He originally had a website for his supplement company, named wholesale-creatine.com, but changed this to Bodybuilding.com.
He purchased the domain name for $20,000 through a bank loan, although the site did not officially launch until April 13th, 1999.
Originally, the site had limited functionality, as it was simply messaging boards. However, with the arrival of sites like MySpace, DeLuca decided to expand the site to have more of a community.
The site quickly became the number one site for health and fitness, as well as a sports nutrition digital retailer.
By 2006, IncMagazine had named DeLuca as the 5th of “America’s Coolest Entrepreneurs” out of a possible 30. However, the group faced criminal charges in 2012 after it emerged that they had been selling mislabelled drugs and supplements with potentially lethal amounts of methamphetamine analog.
In 2013, Bodybuilding.com donated several sports equipment to the first outdoor gym in Boise, which was part of Ann Morrison Park.
In 2014, Inc. 5000 ranked Bodybuilding.com at number 9 among the top companies in Idaho, and it has maintained this achievement for nine years in a row.
In the same year, the Idaho Statesman recognized the company as number 10 of the 75 best private companies in the area. The company has also consistently ranked high on Amazon Alexa’s list of the most visited site worldwide, ranking at #681.
However, in 2015, DeLuca decided to step down as CEO of the company.
He sold the company to the Liberty Media Corporation for an unspecified amount. However, it is rumoured to be approximately $100 million.
DeLuca claimed to be retired from the fitness industry, although six months later, he became the co-founder of Black Box VR. The company is based in Boise, Idaho and centers upon delivering “boutique gym experience that will change fitness forever” (20).
In 2018, CES declared the company the “Best Startup” company of the year, out of 900 other companies. The company opened several training centres across the United States, including in Boise, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Oceanside.
In 2021, the company reported that customers had lifted a total of 1 billion pounds together.
Career Highlights
- In 1997, founded Bodybuilding.com, which opened two years later.
- Made at least $20,000 in 1998
- In 2006, named as one of ‘America’s Coolest Entrepreneurs’
- In 2006, Liberty Media Corporation paid $100 million for a controlling stake in the company
- In 2012, the company was fined $7 million for selling mislabelled supplements
- In 2013, the company reported $420 million in revenue
- In 2014, the company reported $500 million in revenue
- In 2015, left Bodybuilding.com and temporarily retired
- In 2016, created Black Box VR
Personal Life
DeLuca has been married to his wife, Nelya, since 1999. The pair met in high school and got married after four years together. Nelya and DeLuca have three children together, named Bradley, Raiden, and Kyla.
Interesting Facts
- DeLuca is a keen pilot. From 2013 to 2017, he was a volunteer pilot for Wings of Rescue, focusing on Animal Welfare. Since 2010, DeLuca has been a volunteer pilot for Angel Flight West, specializing in Health. He has over 2000 hours of flight experience and owns a Pilatus PC-12 turboprop plane.
- Some of DeLuca’s hobbies include ballroom dancing, reading non-fiction texts, and fitness.
- In 2015, DeLuca donated approximately 3000 meals to the Catholic Social Services group in Hastings, Nebraska.
- Bodybuilding.com is the most visited fitness website worldwide, and it is also the largest online store selling sports nutrition.
- After DeLuca left the company, Bodybuilding.com suffered multiple losses. In 2019, Liberty sold the company to Expedia, who sold it in 2020 to the Najafi Companies. The company also sold its Idaho 98,574 square foot premises for $15.25 million in 2019.
Summary
Ryan DeLuca is an entrepreneur who is most famous for being the founder of Bodybuilding.com. He oversaw the company as it created approximately $500 million in revenue and had approximately 33 unique million visitors on a monthly basis.
After leaving the company in 2015, DeLuca founded Black Box VR, which has a revenue of approximately $4.2 million. DeLuca has a net worth of roughly $100 million.