Liberty Media Corporation announced the acquisition of a controlling share of Bodybuilding.com on January 7, 2008. Changes in ownership sometime bring about a change in management and strategy. In an interview with Muscletime, Ryan DeLuca, the founder and CEO of Bodybuilding.com, assured Muscletime that Bodybuilding.com remains as dedicated to the sport of bodybuilding as ever. According to Mr. DeLuca, the company will retain its executive team and increase its financial sponsorship to help the sport of competitive bodybuilding grow.

This is good news for fans of professional bodybuilding. The free contest coverage of IFBB pro bodybuilding contests has enabled fans from around the world to watch live coverage of top IFBB pro bodybuilders on stage. And promoters of top bodybuilding contests have enjoyed the financial backing of Bodybuilding.com

In 2006, DeLuca sold 60% of the company to Milestone Partners, a private equity firm based in Pennsylvania. Yet the founder never relinquished his hands-on involvement and close associations with the world of competitive bodybuilding. And even after the $100 million mega-sale of shares by both the DeLuca family and Milestone Partners to Liberty Media, DeLuca is adamant that he has no plans to turn away from the bodybuilding base or lessen his involvement with the company.

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, we still own a nice chunk. We are definitely NOT ready to be done with Bodybuilding.com. This is our baby, grown from the garage, and we are more excited than ever to take the company to the next level!

MUSCLETIME: Bodybuilding.com has contributed considerable financial support to the sport of bodybuilding through sponsorships of bodybuilding contests from the amateur through the professional level. In addition, the free contest webcasts are extremely popular. Will your involvement in professional bodybuilding continue to increase?

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, it will continue to increase. We are 100% dedicated to giving back and helping the sport of bodybuilding to grow and prosper. If anything, this deal will only help us with that mission!

MUSCLETIME: Will Liberty retain the same executive team? Will Liberty have option of adding their own executives or board members?

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, we are keeping the exact same executive and management team.  Of course, Liberty has a controlling interest so they could make changes if they wanted to, but they have promised to allow us to continue to run the business as we see fit.  They are committed to letting us continue on our customer-focused strategy which has worked out very well for us so far.

MUSCLETIME: Do terms of the acquisition offer assurances or guarantees that your position in the company will allow you to fulfill your company strategy going forward?

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, for sure. That was a big part of the negotations. They want this just as much as we do.

MUSCLETIME: What benefits does the acquisition provide for Bodybuilding.com? How will Liberty leverage the Bodybuilding.com brand?

RYAN DELUCA: Teaming up with Liberty will give us access to the leaders at many of their media and e-commerce companies. Being able to network with companies of this caliber will be very helpful for us as we continue to grow.  We are still in discussions about how we can work together fully. More details will be coming soon.

MUSCLETIME: Will Bodybuilding.com remain exclusively an etailer or will we ever see physical Bodybuilding.com retail stores?

RYAN DELUCA: We don't have any plans to open any physical stores at this time. We like being an Internet company and we believe it allows us to give the best possible selection, pricing, information and service to our customers.

MUSCLETIME: What will your customers notice as a result of the acquisition?

RYAN DELUCA: There will be no changes in the foreseeable future. We will continue to improve our site and our online store as we always have! 

MUSCLETIME: And the sport of professional bodybuilding?

RYAN DELUCA: Hopefully the sport of bodybuilding will get even more positive media attention from this deal. That's a big part of our goals and I'm more confident than ever that we can help promote this great sport in a positive way to the masses.

MUSCLETIME: The expansion of Bodybuilding.com to include social networking BodySpace and the extensive multimedia content has been a huge success. What is the next big addition to the Bodybuilding.com supersite?

RYAN DELUCA: We are going to continue to focus on adding new features to BodySpace (I feel we are about 10% done right now with what we have planned), adding more and more video content, and personalizing the site for each visitor. You'll see a lot of these things in 2008.

MUSCLETIME: Do you expect Bodybuilding.com to continued its torrid growth rate in 2008? And beyond?

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, for sure. I feel like we are still a relatively skinny teenager that just won our first teen competition. We have a lot more beef to put on before we start to plateau!  We just need to stay focused on what is important… and that is helping our visitors reach their health,fitness and appearance goals in record time. If we keep doing that using the latest and greatest technology and tools, then there is no doubt that we will be growing for a long time.

MUSLCETIME: What are the most popular Bodybuilding.com domain destinations?

RYAN DELUCA: All of the areas of our site get a lot of traffic. The SuperSite (article/video/tools) is the most popular from a unique visitor standpoint. The other areas are growing very quickly as well.

MUSCLETIME: Will bb.com seek to acquire other website(s) and/or business(es) in search of continued growth?

RYAN DELUCA: Yes, we believe this will be an important part of our strategy in the future, when and if it makes sense. No plans right now though.

MUSCLETIME: Will we see you at any of the bodybuilding expos in 2008? J

RYAN DELUCA: Yes! I'll be at the Arnold and Olympia, just like always. I used to go to more, but I think people would rather meet Bob Cicherillo and Jamie Eason than me.  I prefer to send them when I can!

*****

Maybe this year, fans will keep an eye out for the low-key founder of Bodybuilding.com. He represents one of the most amazing entrepreneurial internet success stories in the bodybuilding, health and fitness industry. It is telling that investors and subsequent majority owners in Bodybuilding.com have had no desire to alter the executive or management team or the business strategy defined by Ryan DeLuca. After all, DeLuca has gone from a garage-based internet startup  with no revenue in 1999 to $60 million in 2006 to over $90 million in 2007 with projections of $116 million in 2008. Excellent job!