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When PwC partner and relentless champion of shareholder value Marc Suidan stepped into the CFO office at The Beachbody Company in April 2022, intrigue was bound to follow.

Certainly, a struggling fitness and health company may not be viewed by many as the optimal door-of-entry to the operations side of things. However, for Suidan\u2014a 17-year PwC veteran\u2014Beachbody was without a doubt an enticing challenge. As a seasoned advisor to management, Suidan had contributed shareholder insights to the turnarounds and restructurings of dozens of businesses. However, at Beachbody, he would be executing from inside the organization, where the levers for strategic as well as operational improvement would be within his reach.

\u201cInterestingly enough, half of Beachbody\u2019s business is digital subscriptions, while the other half is the nutritional supplements that people who work out consume,\u201d he reports. \u201cPeople take energy drinks before working out and protein supplements afterward, so these are all part of part of the health supplements that we offer.\u201d Suidan adds that the current turnaround effort has relied on three core pillars: dramatic cost-cutting, enhancing the digital experience around their top-tier content, and fixing the nutrition business.

So far, Suidan tells us, two of the three pillars are already paying off.

\u201cWe\u2019re on track to have created over $200 million in savings in less than 2 years\u2014I mean, it\u2019s just crazy for a company of this size to find this much saving so fast,\u201d comments Suidan, who notes that the company also revamped its digital platforms last March, a development that led CNN to name Beachbody\u2019s consumer app the best in the fitness and workout app space this past December.

During the coming 12 months, according to Suidan, energy drinks, protein supplements, and the diversification of Beachbody\u2019s nutrition channels will be top-of-mind.

\u201cMy two big pieces for the coming year are, number one, to finish that third pillar of the turnaround, and, number two, to get the message out\u2014which is not easy, by the way, right?,\u201d he concludes. \u201cThere are 4,000 public companies, but we need to talk about the two legs that we\u2019ve already completed, so we should be able to get that message out.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney