Headquarters

SoulCycle Corporate Office

Ruth Zukerman began teaching spin classes in 1996. She introduced her friends, Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice, to the classes and to one another. This trio of friends decided to open their own gym featuring nothing but spin classes. Pooling their cash, their first gym was on the Upper Westside of Manhattan, New York.

Villency Design Group designed the SoulCycle stationary bicycle using a “split seat” to relieve the discomfort caused by conventional bike seats. Equinox Fitness, a competing cycling gym, acquired a majority stake in the company in 2011.

Zukerman left the company in 2009, with Rice and Cutler selling their shares to Equinox in 2016 and stepping down from the company. The company has plans to go public but these plans appear to be stalled as of this time.

SoulCycle has more than 100 locations in 15 US states, Canada, and plans to open a new location in London in 2019. The company also launched its own channel on Sirius XM and Pandora, playing the music they use during the various spin classes.

In August 2019, Related Companies, owner of Equinox and SoulCycle, hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump’s reelection, leaving many cyclists outraged and calling for a boycott. In response, the company immediately made a plan for “free rides” to raise money for the charity of the instructor’s choice. Numerous other cycling gyms and gyms offering cycling classes, such as Hollywood Fitness Studios and Town Sports International Gym, offered free classes and discount memberships for those who want to boycott SoulCycle and Equinox.

To turn things around, the company put a new CEO in place in December 2020.

The corporate office for SoulCycle remains in New York City, New York.

SoulCycle

History

To turn things around, the company put a new CEO in place in December 2020.

The corporate office for SoulCycle remains in New York City, New York.

Blue Bayou Water Park/Dixie Landin Corporate Office

In 1960, Sam Haynes Sr. opened a small amusement park named Fun Fair Park in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Best known for the rollercoaster The Wild Mouse and a mascot chimp named Candi, the park lost its small-town charm and closed in 1999.

However, Sam Haynes, Jr. moved a great deal of the park, including Candi, to a new location and started fresh with an amusement park named Dixie Landin’. Attached to Dixie Landin is the Blue Bayou Water Park.

Blue Bayou Water Park and Dixie Landin are open May thru September. The parks have 25 full-time employees that work year-round, but that number swells to 700 during the summer months, with most of the seasonal employees being local teens. Blue Bayou has 20 attractions and Dixie Landin 26, including 3 rollercoasters.

In 2011, both parks were fined more than $25,000 by the Department of Labor, mostly for violations involving the hiring of minors.

A woman was killed in 2010 after falling off the rollercoaster “Xtreme”, which has since been demolished.

Candi the chimp was on display in a cage most days at Dixie Landin’, smoking cigarettes and drinking sodas that park-goers would toss to her. The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in 2015 saying that Candi was being treated inhumanely and that the 50-year-old chimp should live out her days in a sanctuary. The Haynes family said they had tried to have Candi join a group of chimps at a local zoo, but she continually escaped and taught the other chimps how to escape as well.

Candi was well-known for her numerous escapes and apparently died suddenly in April 2017.

Hurricane Gustav caused some damage to both parks in 2008, but the park has just closed for the season and all repairs were done in time for the parks to reopen in 2009.

Blue Bayou Water Park and Dixie Landin are still owned and operated by the Haynes family. Headquarters remain in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Blue Bayou Water Park

History

In 2011, both parks were fined more than $25,000 by the Department of Labor, mostly for violations involving the hiring of minors.

A woman was killed in 2010 after falling off the rollercoaster “Xtreme”, which has since been demolished.

Candi was well-known for her numerous escapes and apparently died suddenly in April 2017.

Hurricane Gustav caused some damage to both parks in 2008, but the park has just closed for the season and all repairs were done in time for the parks to reopen in 2009.

Blue Bayou Water Park and Dixie Landin are still owned and operated by the Haynes family. Headquarters remain in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Power Corporation of Canada Corporate Office

Stockbrokers Arthur Nesbitt and Peter Thompson formed their own company in 1925 to manage their own substantial investments in public utility companies. In the late 1930s, the company acquired a controlling interest in Bathurst Pulp and Paper Company and then in 1938, Canadian Oil Companies Ltd., selling the latter to Shell Oil in 1962.

Arthur J. Nesbitt was succeeded as president by his son Arthur D. Nesbitt. The Nesbitt family sold most their interest in Power Corporation to the Paul Desmarais group in 1968 and by 1970 no longer had any involvement in the company. Paul Desmarais began implementing an investment philosophy which continues today: responsible management, prudent approach to risk, and long-term value creation.

1984 saw the creation of diversified management and holding company, Power Financial Corporation. Global expansion for the group began in the 1970s in Europe and in the 1990s in Asia. The group’s involvement in the finance sector continued in 2000 with the acquisition of Canada Life, Mackenzie Financial and Putnam Investments.

Today, Power Corporation owns 65.5% of Power Financial Corporation.

Originally established as an electric utility holding company, the company has become an international conglomerate with major interests in the finance industry, as well as interests in other business sectors such as sustainable and renewable energy. This became evident as the company took a controlling interest in August 2019 in US solar company Nautilus Solar.

Company headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Power Corporation of Canada

History

Today, Power Corporation owns 65.5% of Power Financial Corporation.

Company headquarters are located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Elle Corporate Office

Elle was founded in Paris by Helene Gordon-Lazareff in the immediate aftermath of World War II. First sold as a supplemental insert to the magazine France-Soir, which was edited at the time by Helene’s husband, Pierre Lazareff. Hélène Gordon-Lazareff returned to Paris after a visit to New York City to create a unique publication that grappled with the many forces shaping the lives of women in France in 1945. Women won the right to vote in France in 1944, and Elle dived immediately into long-form “newspaper-like” features on women’s role in national politics and the growing feminist movement.

In addition to articles regarding women’s issues, the magazine featured fashion icons and celebrities such as Christian Dior, Bridgette Bardo, and Greta Garbo. By the 1960s, the magazine had 800,000 subscribers. International publishing in other languages began in 1969, with publishing in the US in 1985.

Today, Elle is a worldwide lifestyle magazine that focuses on fashion, beauty, health, celebrities, and entertainment. Elle is owned by the Lagardere Group of France. It is published in the U.S. and the UK by Hearst Magazine, which also sells furniture and decor items under the Elle name. Elle is the world’s largest fashion magazine, with more than 46 international editions sold in 60 countries.

In 2011, Hearst Corporation reached a deal with Lagardereto purchase the rights to publish Elle Magazine in fifteen countries including the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Russia, and Ukraine. Lagardére, which has struggled in the international market since the 2000s, retained the rights to the French edition and would collect royalties from the international editions.

Headquarters for the magazine are located in New York, New York.

Elle

History

Headquarters for the magazine are located in New York, New York.

Sunshine Mills Corporate Office

Founders Omer Bullen and his son-in-law Fred Bostick, Jr., began making animal feed for farm animals in 1949. The company slowly expanded and in 1960, dog and cat food, along with pet treats, were added to the product lineup.

The company began to produce economy dog foods and expanded into more complete pet food products. Over the next several years the Sunshine, Field Trial, and Cat Café brands were marketed and sold in the Southeastern and Southwestern states. Alan Bostick took over the reins as President and CEO in 1984. A new CEO was named in February 2019 after problems with certain dog food products began to arise. Today, Dana Brooks is the company CEO. The company has expanded internationally, offering their products in more than 30 countries.

In early 2018, veterinarians in the US began to notice a disturbing trend among dogs; an overdose of vitamin D. This led to the deaths and renal failure of multiple animals. Over time, the linking factor began to become clear; all dogs ate grain-free dog foods produced by Sunshine Mills. Another brand of dog food, Elm Pet Foods, also used Sunshine Mills facilities. Hill’s Pet Foods are also involved in this recall.

While the company originally denied that its products were responsible, they voluntarily issued a recall in December 2018 for certain dry pet food labels within certain dates. However, the company later expanded the recall to include numerous other labels, including treats and canned foods. The FDA requested analytical test results for the company vitamin premix in a February 2019 inspection, and Sunshine Mills was unable to produce any records. Tests have since found Vitamin D levels at more than 30 times the target range for dogs

Company headquarters remain in Red Bay, Alabama.

Sunshine Mills

History

Company headquarters remain in Red Bay, Alabama.