June 21, 2004

By: Sanya Millard
Website: http://www.1st-in-wellness.com

Direct Focus, Inc., a leading marketing company for fitness and healthy lifestyle products

Direct Focus, Inc., a leading marketing company for fitness and healthy lifestyle products, announced today that it has received final court approval to acquire substantially all of the assets of Schwinn/GT’s fitness equipment division through a bankruptcy auction in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado. In addition, the Company announced that it has closed the transaction.

Under the terms of the bid, Direct Focus is paying approximately $65 million in cash for Schwinn Fitness. The Direct Focus bid was linked to a successful bid submitted by Pacific Cycle LLC for the purchase of substantially all of the assets of Schwinn/GT’s bicycle division. Direct Focus expects Schwinn Fitness to contribute over $120 million to sales in 2002 and to be accretive to earnings.

We are very pleased with the success of our bid, said Brian Cook, CEO of Direct Focus. The acquisition is a very important part of our strategy to become the leader in the $6.2 billion domestic fitness market and expand our international sales. We have enhanced our retail distribution capabilities on a global basis and gained additional R&D capabilities. We now have another great brand name in the fitness area and offer our customers a powerful combination of Bowflex, Nautilus, and Schwinn product lines.

Our management team is very familiar with Schwinn Fitness. Kevin Lamar, who joined us as our President in June, was instrumental in growing the Schwinn Fitness business from $20 million in annual sales to over $100 million in annual sales from 1989 to 2000. At the end of the second quarter, we reported $94.7 million in cash and short term investments. We believe this acquisition is an excellent use of our financial and management resources, and offers significant growth opportunities.

We believe Schwinn Fitness’ strong brand and quality fitness products will be an excellent fit with our growing portfolio of fitness and healthy lifestyle products, said Kevin Lamar, President of Direct Focus.

Schwinn Fitness offers a popular line of cardiovascular equipment, which includes treadmills, stationary bikes, steppers and ellipticals sold under the Schwinn and Trimline brands. These products will complement our Nautilus line of strength-building products, and we expect to gain powerful distribution synergies through our combined product lines and sales efforts.

About The Author:

Sanya Millard is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-wellness.com.  Obtaining and keeping good health through healthy living, natural healing, great mental health and healthy finances.