Highlights

  • Mark Wahlberg and David Beckham's business interests clashed in a $10 million feud over an endorsement deal gone wrong.
  • A long-standing clash between the former friends has culminated in a legal battle over promised stocks and lost millions.
  • International media outlets covered Beckham's suit against Wahlberg's F45 Fitness, hinting at an ongoing drama with no resolution yet.

DB Ventures, David Beckham's company, has filed suit against F45 Fitness — a company partly-owned by Mark Wahlberg.

Myriad entertainment news outlets covered the litigation between companies owned by the two former friends, which appears to have been percolating for some time.

Both Beckham and Wahlberg have thriving business empires outside their respective fields of football (soccer) and entertainment, respectively.

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Beckham And Wahlberg's Business Interests

After Beckham formally retired from football, he established a company called DB Ventures — and further diversified his income streams, dabbling in a whiskey brand, content production, and soccer team ownership:

"A year after retiring from football, he established DB Ventures, a firm that handles his entrepreneurial activities. According to reports, the former English international received dividends of $17 million in 2019 from DB Ventures.

"Beckham launched his whiskey brand, Haig Club, and co-founded Studio 99, a content-production company. In 2018, Beckham decided to activate the clause he signed with MLS by buying a share in Inter Miami for $25 million."

Like Beckham, Wahlberg has padded his Hollywood millions with ventures in various industries.

He was a very early investor in the now-popular Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in addition to establishing the "Wahlburgers" brand:

"Wahlberg leveraged his fame to co-found a restaurant chain called Wahlburgers, with the help of his chef brother, Paul, and another brother, Donnie (of New Kids On The Block fame).

"The Wahlberg brothers' family business got a huge boost with an A&E reality show featuring them. Mark Wahlberg also owns a big part of the family business, which expanded into other areas like making burger sauces and spices."

As a separate US Magazine article explained, the suit wasn't the first time Beckham and Wahlberg had "beef," pointing to a public 2009 clash between the pair after Beckham moved to Los Angeles.

According to US, a displeased Wahlberg openly asserted the Beckhams' new American neighbors had no interest in football:

"After Beckham and his family moved to Los Angeles and brought the paparazzi with them, Wahlberg commented that it disturbed the neighborhood’s peace.

"'I’m not telling Beckham to take his family home. I’m just not sure why he came to America in the first place,' Wahlberg told [the] Daily Mail in 2009. 'Man, we don’t want your soccer. There’s no way Americans are going to buy the idea of 90 minutes of running around without much happening. Thanks for trying guys, but we’ll stick to baseball and basketball.'"

However, Beckham and Wahlberg later became friends, and by 2021, had entered into the business collaboration in question.

So what happened between Beckham and Wahlberg to prompt the suit?

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Beckham Sues F45: What We Know So Far

On April 21st, US Magazine covered a suit filed by DB Ventures against F45, citing court documents obtained by TMZ.

According to the magazine, the suit hinged on an endorsement deal gone awry, a $10 million sum Beckham claims he never received, and company shares which purportedly never materialized.

"Beckham, 48, claimed in the court documents obtained by TMZ that F45 'duped' him into signing an endorsement deal. The soccer star’s company first filed the complaint in May 2023.

"Beckham had initially agreed to serve as F45’s global ambassador in August 2021 when he moved to Los Angeles. While living in the City of Angels, Beckham bonded with Wahlberg, 52. (Neither star presently lives in California. The English athlete is based in Miami running his soccer team while Wahlberg resides in Las Vegas.)

"Per the legal documents, Beckham claimed that he never received the $10 million he was offered in contract negotiations. He was allegedly promised stocks as compensation, which were never delivered after share prices seemingly plummeted. (Beckham also named Wahlberg’s eponymous investment firm in the suit.)"

British outlet The Independent also covered the litigation, citing court documents obtained by The Sun, and explaining:

"According to documents seen by The Sun, Beckham’s company DB Ventures Ltd initially began the litigation against F45 Training, which Wahlberg part-owns, in October 2022, alongside Australian golf entrepreneur Greg Norman, before a judge instructed the pair to bring their cases separately.

"Beckham and Norman alleged that they had been misled into working with the company as ambassadors. A separate case is also being brought against the actor’s investment firm, Mark Wahlberg Investment Group (MWIG) and F45’s founders Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch.

"The sports legend claims he lost more than £8.5m when stocks he was promised were withheld before share prices plummeted."

Also citing The Sun, the New York Post noted that Beckham had appeared in several F45 promotional social media posts, which the outlet said had since been deleted.

The Post addressed a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of Wahlberg and his "co-defendants," which held in part that Beckham's filing "lack[ed] merit":

"Wahlberg and his co-defendants are asking a judge to dismiss the case and say that the claims of 'fraudulent conduct' are baseless.

"In their motion to dismiss, they claimed that Beckham was putting the onus on everyone but himself.

"'The 209-page, 610-paragraph SAC [complaint] tries to make up with length what it lacks in merit,' part of the motion says, according to The Sun."

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Due to the international nature of the suit and its parties – Beckham is British, and Wahlberg is American – the sums involved in the suit varied with the nationality of the outlet covering the story.

Australia's news.com.au placed it at $16.4 million Australian, or £8.5 million in British pounds; the figure was described as $10 million in American dollars.

Finally, several outlets noted that neither Beckham nor Norman were the first athletes to make claims of the sort against F45, and TMZ noted:

"BTW ... David's not alone. Terrell Owens filed the same type of suit against F45 way back in 2017, claiming the company stiffed him to the tune of $700,000."

As of mid-April, Beckham and DB Ventures suit against F45 remained pending.

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