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Business Insider
01-08-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
CNBC's 'The Profit' ended with legal acrimony and an $11 million payout. Its host is now back on TV.
Marcus Lemonis — the multimillionaire entrepreneur known for dishing out tough love tactics and advice to small businesses across the US — returned to reality television this summer. "Every episode, I'm meeting businesses at a crossroads," he told viewers during the double episode premiere of Fox's "The Fixer." "I'm not a consultant. I don't believe in handouts. I'm a capitalist." From 2013 to 2021, Lemonis also hosted another reality show, CNBC's "The Profit." Its premise was similar to that of "The Fixer": Lemonis offered capital and advice to what were described as "struggling" small businesses in exchange for partial ownership and being put "100% in charge." The show was a hit and turned Lemonis into a minor celebrity. It also resulted in a sprawling mess of lawsuits, arbitrations, confidential settlements, and small business owners who say that Lemonis damaged their companies and reputations. Of the roughly 100 businesses featured on "The Profit," more than 50 filed lawsuits, engaged in mediation talks, or settled with Lemonis and NBCUniversal over the harm they say they endured. While some of these disputes were known, the scale of the fallout has not been previously reported. Business Insider has learned that in 2021, NBCUniversal, CNBC, Comcast, Lemonis, and the show's production company settled for $11 million, with 40 companies that appeared on "The Profit" paid $275,000 each. Arbitrators and federal judges dismissed several fraud and misconduct claims against Lemonis. In two cases, NBCUniversal, Lemonis, and their affiliated companies secured more than $20 million in judgments, loan repayments, and legal fee awards after lawsuits filed by companies that appeared on the show went to arbitration. Business owners have accused Lemonis and NBCUniversal of aggressive tactics, broken promises, loading on debt, and deals that unraveled after filming. Business Insider interviewed more than a dozen people involved with the show and reviewed thousands of pages of court records, correspondence, and confidential settlement documents. Lemonis and NBCUniversal have denied the allegations, saying the CEO was only trying to help companies already in trouble. In court and public statements, they've argued they disclosed key risks of appearing on the show. In an interview with Business Insider, Lemonis said he had won "any claim that was ever brought against me." "I know I didn't do anything wrong. I have a clean conscience. I sleep at night very well," Lemonis said. He declined to discuss the settlement agreement and didn't respond to subsequent follow-up questions. "The only money that I could ever think of that got spent was mine," Lemonis said. "And the amount of money that I ever got out of the businesses — including loans, interest, in any business of any kind — this isn't specific to any business — was zero." Now, Fox has brought Lemonis back to the air with a familiar concept. Fox declined to comment. '100% in charge' Lemonis, 51, got his start selling cars and hustling RVs, snapping up dealerships in the early 2000s that he rolled into a national chain. He became the CEO of Camping World in 2006 and took the RV giant public a decade later. As his profile grew, he styled himself as a sharp-tongued, blue-collar mogul — part businessman, part showman. In 2024, he took over as executive chairman of Beyond, Inc., the parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, shortly after the home goods brand declared bankruptcy. He was appointed principal executive officer a year later. "The Profit" first aired in July 2013, part of an attempt by CNBC — NBCUniversal's business news channel — to find programming for the after-market hours. The idea was simple. Lemonis promised to invest his money, often in exchange for an ownership stake, to help revamp small businesses across the country. He would negotiate on-air, handshake agreements with business owners and declare himself "100% in charge" before implementing a slew of changes. If owners expressed doubt, Lemonis and producers told them to "trust the process," business owners alleged in legal and mediation records. The show took off on social media and, within three years, CNBC said it was its most-watched original series telecast with 1.9 million viewers. In early 2021, Gerard Fox, a Los Angeles-based litigator with a background in high-profile commercial and entertainment law, sent a series of letters to lawyers at Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal. The letters, which have been reviewed by Business Insider and have never previously been reported on, were put together on behalf of dozens of participants on "The Profit," detailing what they described as their negative experiences with the show. After Fox sent his letters, both sides entered into mediation, according to one person involved, heading off potential litigation by many of the businesses. The settlement agreement was signed by senior executives at Comcast, NBCUniversal, CNBC, Lemonis, and the production company, and included non-disparagement clauses for the companies involved and a reciprocal confidentiality clause. Parties on both sides of the settlement denied wrongdoing. One of the small business owners said they took the money because they feared that otherwise, "NBC and Lemonis will throw $millions at us and in the end squash us," according to emails among business owners discussing the settlement. Gerard Fox declined to comment for this story. After a lawsuit he filed on behalf of another business that appeared on the show was dismissed in federal court, a judge sanctioned Fox, saying she was misled about the terms of that dismissal. "The goal of 'The Profit' was to help participants find a path to success for businesses that were often close to failure," a CNBC spokesperson said in a statement to Business Insider. "While some did not succeed, the show aimed to help businesses get to profitability and shine a light on the challenges that face small business owners across the country." In a document prepared for the mediation, the network said it had no role in the deals between Lemonis and the businesses, and that it wasn't responsible for how those deals turned out. Many business owners declined to comment, with some citing contracts they signed prior to filming that stipulated heavy fines for speaking about the show. In 2023, NBCUniversal and the production company settled with five more businesses, which were represented by the law firm Quinn Emanuel, according to court documents. That same year, NBCUniversal also settled with the owners of an Illinois marina company who claimed that their business was disparaged on the show. Lemonis was not a party to these settlements. Stephen Marmer, a psychiatrist who has taught at UCLA's School of Medicine, was hired by the attorney Fox on behalf of the companies for the settlement discussions. Marmer wrote in a report how, after interviewing 48 of the business owners or their family members, many described damage to their confidence or self-trust, humiliation in front of vendors or staff, or alienation from family members and business partners. At least five people said they had been suicidal or engaged in suicidal ideation, according to the report. "If the narratives presented in these interviews reflect what actually happened to those whom I interviewed, I can see how they were injured and how and why their symptoms arose," Marmer concluded. "Most of them will need ongoing treatment to recover from the PTSD and gaslighting they experienced." "I was surprised that CNBC stuck with him as long as they did," said Dan Isenhart, a longtime employee at the Southern California wine shop Amazing Grapes, which filed for bankruptcy three years after appearing on the show and was not part of the settlement. "He caused a lot of heartache for a lot of people." Bankruptcy, litigation, and debt For some companies, appearing on "The Profit" was a boon. Mike Anderson said revenue for his and his brother's business, now focused on screen printing, is 10 times what it was when they filmed their show. "It's a night-and-day difference," Anderson said. Another business owner, Ana Quincoces, said her ongoing relationship with Lemonis has been fruitful, including work he directed her way. The two considered opening a restaurant together, she said. Quincoces added that her prior experience with reality TV — she appeared on "The Real Housewives of Miami" — may have better prepared her for the experience. Not all feel the same. By 2021, Steve Weissmann's business, Tumbleweed Tiny House, was bankrupt, embroiled in litigation it would ultimately lose, and millions of dollars in debt to Lemonis. In 2017, when Weissmann appeared on "The Profit," he described his business in court documents as successful, making millions in revenue, and meeting with potential investors. "We were growing at 60 percent compound annual growth rates, which is very successful growth," he told Business Insider. "But we were losing money as we grew too fast." He said that he initially applied to be on the show because he was impressed by Lemonis's reputation as a business guru. On the first day of filming, Lemonis expressed concern at the way Weissmann accounted for customer deposits, Weissmann said. When Weissmann asked Lemonis what the future of the company looked like to him, Lemonis responded, "You not going to jail," according to a transcript from the taping. When he went home after filming, Weissmann said he held his wife while they cried, and she vomited. Weissmann, who said that his accounting was above board, said he decided to take the deal offered on-air or risk being called a criminal on TV. The footage never aired. What did make it to air was Weissmann telling Lemonis, "I'm running on the edge." They ultimately verbally agreed to a deal that involved Lemonis loaning $3 million to the business in exchange for 75% ownership. It also involved a radical change to Tumbleweed's business model. Lemonis told Weissmann to move Tumbleweed away from custom builds and toward standard units. Weissmann told Business Insider he questioned the move — most customers preferred custom models, he said — but agreed. According to statements in court filings, after the episode aired, Lemonis eventually stopped responding, and Tumbleweed was left with excess inventory from the production of standard units. After months of turning down orders for custom homes, Tumbleweed started to run out of cash, according to statements in court documents. Along the way, Tumbleweed also took on loans of around $2.8 million from a Lemonis company to stay afloat. Less than three years after appearing on "The Profit," in 2020, Tumbleweed filed for bankruptcy, which Weissmann called "devastating." He said he wasn't involved in the $11 million settlement because he was already involved in these proceedings. A Lemonis company sued Weissmann a year later, seeking the nearly $3 million in principal and interest on loans made to Tumbleweed, for which Weissmann was a guarantor. Lemonis' lawyers argued that the bankruptcy filing had triggered an immediate obligation to pay back the money. Weissmann responded by filing a counterclaim and then a lawsuit against NBCUniversal, Lemonis, the production company, alleging fraud and breaches of fiduciary duty, among other claims. The case went to arbitration, as required by the show's participation contract. An arbitrator sided with the defendants, writing "the weight of the evidence shows that Lemonis was attempting to 'save' Tumbleweed, not have it fail, even if he did not ultimately succeed." In early July, a judge confirmed a $14.4 million arbitration award to NBCUniversal, Lemonis, Camping World, and the production company against Weissmann and Tumbleweed, including $7.7 million in attorney fees. Lemonis and NBCUniversal secured another win in 2023. An arbitrator awarded $7.1 million, including more than $6 million in attorney fees, to NBCUniversal, the production company, and Camping World after the trustee of the bankrupt design firm Precise Graphix lost in arbitration. The arbitrator cited "the complete failure of competent, credible evidence" to support the trustee's allegations, which included fraud and breach of contract. A 'prop' check Other business owners allege that Lemonis took advantage of companies he pledged to help, according to interviews and legal records reviewed by Business Insider. Many of the allegations of exploitative business practices were also detailed in a 2018 Inc. Magazine article. In one 2016 lawsuit, the owners of a Pennsylvania-based restaurant franchise, My Big Fat Greek Gyro, said they applied in hopes of expanding and selling more franchises. While filming, the lawsuit said, they agreed to a deal with Lemonis for $350,000 in exchange for a 55% stake in the business. Once the cameras were off, the lawsuit alleged, the owners were told to return the check they received from Lemonis, and that it was just a "prop" for the show. The owners claimed that they never received the money, and that Lemonis used the promised funds for renovations, changed the businesses' name to The Simple Greek, while ultimately "freezing" them out of their business after establishing a new LLC that was owned by a Lemonis company. "Prior to the show, we were collectively making about $160,000 a year," one owner said in a 2022 deposition. "Eighteen months into the show, we had no income." The lawsuit, which alleged, among other things, fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, is ongoing in state court. Lawyers for Lemonis have called the claims "baseless," arguing he invested millions of dollars to try to "salvage plaintiffs' floundering business," and allegations of misconduct were, in reality, Lemonis "operating the business pursuant to his undisputed decision-making powers as the controlling owner of The Simple Greek." In a 2020 lawsuit filed by the New York company Bowery Kitchen Supplies, the owner alleged that after agreeing to an on-air deal for $350,000 in exchange for 33% of the business, a producer took back the "prop" check. Like the Greek restaurant owners, he alleged that he never received the promised funding, and that Lemonis made drastic changes to the business, including liquidating hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of inventory and shutting down the store for costly renovations, leaving the business deep in debt. The case was later dismissed as part of the 2021 settlement. At least 10 companies or business owners filed for bankruptcy after appearing on the show, court records show. Another 17 closed down, according to the letters that Fox, the attorney, sent to Comcast. 'We have been diminished' The 2021 settlement talks were not the first time that participants on the show attempted to notify NBCUniversal about their complaints, according to Fox's letters and other records obtained by Business Insider. In 2013, a business owner hired an attorney to prevent NBCUniversal from airing their episode, after they said misrepresentations were made during filming, the letters say. The network declined, and the episode came out. The daughter of a business owner who appeared on the show also said online that her family was humiliated by Lemonis and the production company. The executive producer told her in late 2014 that "CNBC lawyers had seen the post and were not happy," and that she'd be sued by the network if she didn't take it down, the letters said. That year, the family member of a different business owner wrote to CNBC's president and chairman; NBCUniversal's CEO; and several other network executives. She said the show portrayed her family in a false light and defamed them, according to the letters. In 2015, another owner sent "a detailed letter" to NBCUniversal, "informing them of the fraud and defamation that the show and Lemonis perpetrated on him," according to the letters. While speaking on the "Shark Tank Podcast" in 2015, Lemonis said that following one of the episodes, he "got emails from the family and aunts and uncles and cousins and how upset they were that I had portrayed them that way." CNBC aired the show's final episode in September 2021. Now, as another batch of businesses appear on Fox's "The Fixer," Steve Weissmann says he wishes he'd never said yes to "The Profit." "We have been diminished in a way that we never deserved to be," Weissmann told Business Insider. "I was on a reality television show and made to look like an idiot."
Entrepreneur
22-07-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Marcus Lemonis Fixes Businesses But a Personal Struggle Changed Everything
He used to pour on the love. Now it's time for straight talk. Is this the evolution of leadership? This story appears in the July 2025 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe » Marcus Lemonis came home feeling crummy. After eight years of hosting his hit TV show The Profit, in which he helped turn around struggling businesses, he'd just finished taping a show for HGTV called The Renovator — where he helped families with their home renovations. "I didn't really like that," Lemonis told his wife. Then he asked her: "Why didn't I like that?" "Because people didn't need you for that," she replied. "They could renovate their own home, or they could get somebody else to do it. The world wants you to help them make more money, or fix their business, or crack the code to something inside them. And absent that, the world doesn't really need you." Related: I've Managed 260 Employees — Here's How to Tell If Your Leadership Style Is Actually Working Image Credit: Bobby Fisher This was 2022, and she was right — the show ran for only four episodes. Lemonis is recalling this story as we sit in his living room, in an elegant townhouse in Manhattan. "It was a pretty harsh thing to say," he says of his wife's words. "But she was telling me: Don't do something everyone else can do. Do what only you can do." When Lemonis said that, something hit me. "So," I said, "what she was really telling you was: You have a function. Lean into that function." Leaders love having a mission. But they rarely think about having a function. Consider the difference in those words. Mission is grand. Noble. Self-imposed. Great humans have missions, and those missions animate them. LeBron James said: "My whole mission in life is to speak for my people." Maya Angelou wrote: "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive." Mission, mission, mission. Function feels different. It is flat and structural and unsexy. Just one part of a larger system. Machines, tools, teams—these things have functions. They are needed now but replaceable tomorrow. LeBron James and Maya Angelou do not speak of functions. No great human wakes up in the morning aspiring toward a function. But what if it's exactly what great leaders need? And what if, like every great leader, Lemonis needed that reminder — of what makes him useful, and what does not, and how that might change. Related: This One Leadership Move Will Transform Your Team's Loyalty and Performance To the general public, Lemonis is best known for being on TV: The Profit ran on CNBC for eight seasons, and he is now returning for a FOX show called The Fixer, launching on July 18. But his true bona fides occur off camera, where he leads two big companies: Camping World Holdings, which he cofounded and grew into a $6 billion-plus business and where he serves as CEO and chairman, and Beyond, the recently renamed fusion of buybuy BABY, and Bed Bath & Beyond, where he became executive chairman last year. As Lemonis will readily tell you: He has no children, his parents have died, and he spends his waking hours obsessing over operational excellence. Business is literally his life, and, he admits, he tends to forget that other people live differently. Which brings us back to the whole function thing. What is Marcus Lemonis' function? Lemonis thinks about it for a moment. "I used to function as a therapist," he says. As both a TV host and a business leader, he would ask thoughtful questions and deliver regular affirmations. He really likes people. He is warm and engaging. He wants people to feel good. He wants them to succeed. But in the past few years, his approach has changed. The way he treats people now surprises him. "I am very difficult to work with," he admits. Like how? Well, he says: "Have you ever been in a meeting that doesn't end on the highest note, and then you leave the room, and you know everybody's now talking about you? And they're all like, 'Fuck him'?" Yes, I say. I do know that. "That happens a lot more now," he says. Marcus turned 50 in late 2023 — and, like many people who hit that milestone, his own mortality started to come into view. He now feels time pass faster, ever faster. "I know that my time in certain businesses isn't forever," he says. "So I've come to a conclusion. In the past, people would see me as a successful businessperson based on today's results. But I don't believe that to be as true as I used to. What I believe now is: If the business can be successful without me, that is the determiner of whether I was a good leader. It's like, what happens when I'm gone? That is how I will be judged." This is now his function, he's decided. Unlike before, it is not to profit, or to renovate, or to fix. It is to prepare. To prepare others to succeed without him. Related: I Achieved Success — But Realized It Wasn't Sustainable Until I Made This Crucial Shift in Leadership Image Credit: Bobby Fisher I first met Lemonis in 2016, when I'd just started working at Entrepreneur. (I'm now the editor in chief.) We hosted an event at a fancy hotel in Scottsdale; I was the opener and Lemonis was the headliner. It was the first time I'd ever keynoted to a roomful of entrepreneurs, and I was deeply nervous. I dressed in a suit, even though I hate suits, to mask my feeling of being an imposter. I tried to talk myself up, to prove to the audience that I belonged. Then I watched Lemonis casually stroll on stage after me, and do the exact opposite. He began with a short version of his bio: He was born in Beirut during the run-up to the civil war, and was left at an orphanage at four days old. He was adopted by a couple in Miami, Florida. He was an only child who struggled to fit in — "an awkward child who turned into an awkward adult," as he often says. Business became his refuge, the only thing that made sense to him. Then he basically told the audience: Look, I'm flawed, but I'm here to help. What's on your mind? People opened up. For the next hour or so, he basically ran a group therapy session. I've followed Lemonis' work ever since. I've heard him on many podcasts, seen him on TV, and noticed that he always does that same thing — starts with his biography. So now, nearly a decade later, as we sit together in his home, I ask him why. "The more I reveal about myself, the more you'll reveal too," he says. "I try to make it as extreme as I can, so that people almost think to themselves 'Well, my life's fucked up just like his.' And then people are less judgy, and they're more open to talk." This isn't just a good presentation trick, he says. It's also a good leadership strategy. To get the best out of people, you must connect as people. Great leadership, he believes, "starts with the acknowledgement of what you're not good at." A leader must recognize those things, and then surround themselves with people who are better. "Once you can accept your deficiencies," he says, "it will allow you to home in on your strengths and double down on them." I ask Lemonis what he's good and bad at. He gives me a list. He is bad at details, at waiting for things to evolve, at giving people space, and at testing. His instincts are to go all-in on ideas, not sit around waiting for preliminary results. "So I need people around me who are strong enough to say, 'That's a terrible idea,' or 'We could try that, but not today,'" he says. And what's he good at? Driving hard. Ideas. Vision. Finding people, promoting them, and making them better. When Lemonis talks to people about leadership, whether it's from a stage or in a more intimate meeting, he often invites them to draw a mountain. Try it for yourself. Grab a piece of paper and draw a mountain. Doesn't matter what it looks like — it might be a round hill, or jagged with peaks and valleys, or whatever. Now here's the point: "Draw yourself where you see yourself on the mountain," Lemonis says. Related: How Mastering Your Nervous System Boosts Leadership Presence and Performance In most cases, Lemonis says, people draw themselves in the middle or at the top. He asks them why. If they're in the middle, they'll say: I'm not where I want to be. If they're at the top, they'll say: I've achieved everything I want. To which he then replies: "What if you just thought about yourself at the bottom of the mountain? And what if you thought that your role at your company, in your business, in your family, or in your community, was to help everybody else get to the top? And that your job is to ensure that everything down at the base is safe, and that when shit rolls downhill, it rolls on you? And that when the flag gets posted at the top, you see other people do it? You don't need to be at the top of the mountain anymore. And maybe the best leaders are the ones that want to get everybody else to the top of the mountain." This is not how Lemonis always thought. It's not how most people think. He became the CEO of his first public company at age 25, and thought he needed to stay at the peak, where leaders belonged. "That was all wrong," he now says. "What matters is how everybody else gets there. Does the company get there? Do the employees get there?" Here's another metaphor he likes: the army. If you're going into battle, where is the leader? Many leaders think they should be at the front, leading the charge. But you know what? "You could die first, and then everybody's screwed," Lemonis says. A great leader is actually behind the troops — keeping them safe, observing their speed, making the adjustments. "I've convinced myself that my role in life is to get the best version of everybody out of themselves," he says. "And if I don't get to the heart of the problem fast, the chances of me being able to extract the best version of them is limited." And that has created a conflict. Because sometimes, getting to the heart of a problem means hurting some feelings. Lemonis doesn't want to be a jerk. But increasingly, he's willing to. Related: What Makes a Good Leader? Here's What I've Learned After 20-Plus Years as a CEO. Image Credit: Bobby Fisher For a man as busy and successful as Lemonis, he has surprisingly few barriers around him. He has no big publicity team. No entourage. His phone buzzes constantly, because everyone seems to have his number. (He gave it to me, too.) This is his way. He is disarming. At some point, he walks us into his kitchen, opens a cabinet, and there is a world-class collection of snacks in there. All neatly organized in glass jars. Have whatever, he tells me. He starts eating gummy worms. "I love people. I love learning from people," he tells me. And this is why, as he turned 50, he was surprised at how differently he interacts with people. He now keeps conversations shorter. He is more direct. He has less tolerance for slowness or bad ideas or people's feelings. "It's the balance between light and dark," he explains. The what? "The proper balancing of light and dark," he says, "is something that I've learned over the years — where there's a necessity to tell people how shit really is, but to also give them credit for the stuff that's really right." If he's speaking to a direct report, for example, he might need to explain how they failed at something. In the past, he'd also spend a lot of time complimenting them, or hearing them out, or asking gentle and thoughtful questions. But since turning 50, his balance has been shifting: Less light, more dark. " I spent too much time in the past fluffing people up, and in some cases embellishing, before I got to the point," he says. "But I noticed that, in the last 12 months, my patience for whiners versus winners has elevated to a new level — to a level that I think I need to probably temper a little bit. I get to the point quicker, and that is a lot for people." For example, let's say he's in a meeting at Beyond. Something isn't working. Someone starts explaining why they're doing it this way, or how it used to be done, and Lemonis will stop them. If it's not working today, then what happened yesterday is irrelevant to him. He wants to know what drives results now. No time for light. Only darkness. He grapples with how contradictory this feels. He's always pushed people, yes, but with love and care. He is a people person! But mortality is inarguable. " I started to recognize — and this is gonna sound crazy — that my time on earth is limited," he says. "And my ability to influence the outcome is limited, and my time with them, because I'm busy, is limited, and I just need to get to the fucking point." Related: 4 Leadership Lessons I Learned While Disrupting an Industry Even if it makes him a jerk. Even if someone dislikes him for it. Even if they never talk to him again. "Because I don't think people will ever push themselves as hard as I'll push them," he says. "I've accepted the fact that I may never have an ongoing relationship with them. But when they achieve what I knew they could, that they didn't think they could, will they look back and have a morsel that's like: 'That guy's a giant asshole, but...' "'I never want to see his face again, but...' "I am here for the but," he concludes. Remember earlier, when he said he's walking out of more meetings knowing that everyone in the room is pissed at him? That they're all basically thinking, Fuck Marcus? Truth be told, he's enjoying that. "Like in any good comic book, they all band together against evil. I am the common enemy," he says. "So I can help my team band together and build a fortress around themselves, and learn how to stick together, and learn how to be better together and make the team. They don't realize that there's a strategy here." I ask Lemonis: If this is now part of his function, does he view it as the sacrifice of leadership? And here's why I ask: Leaders often frame leadership through the lens of sacrifice. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with Whole Foods cofounder John Mackey, who was CEO for 44 years. He said he attributes his longevity to one primary thing: He kept asking himself, What does the company most need me to do now? This meant constantly reinventing himself, taking on roles he did not love, for the betterment of the company. I heard a similar thing from Sean Tresvant, who became CEO of Taco Bell. His background is in marketing — so when he became CEO, he said, "Much to my chagrin, I wasn't in charge of marketing anymore, and I had to learn that. I had to appreciate that." And he had to let it go. In these views, leadership is about doing what's needed of you — even if it runs counter to what's comfortable for you. It's also the central tension of Batman, Spider-Man, and basically every hero story. And isn't that sacrifice? "I wouldn't use that word," Lemonis says. "I don't see myself ever sacrificing. I see myself looking for fulfillment." Sacrifices are for people who want one thing, but who must settle for another. Fulfillment is for people who identify their function, and who then give everything to it. Related: This One Leadership Move Will Transform Your Team's Loyalty and Performance Image Credit: Bobby Fisher Lemonis has to go. He's due downtown at a TV studio, where he's filming some final shots for his new FOX show. So we leave his townhouse and hop into an Uber, where he catches up on some work. He calls a guy at Beyond, and starts talking about their upcoming Memorial Day marketing strategies. Lemonis gets granular. He's talking about what products to feature. Suggesting how to style the "O" in "Memorial." Tweaking the language they use to promote watches. "I could help you guys with this if you'll just actually set up the time and they'll just execute," he says. "Like, every idea I have is not gonna be a good one, but most of them are gonna work." I can hear the guy on the other line, who seems to be furiously taking notes. Lemonis puts him on mute for a moment, then turns to me. "So this is a young guy that nobody wanted to push," he says. "We fight all the time because I push him. Now he's exhausted by me." Lemonis says this like it's a good thing. Which, by his logic, it is: His function is to push. To be pushed is to be exhausted. To be exhausted is to be on the path to excellence. That path is good for this young guy, and good for the company, and therefore good for Lemonis too, because it means that one day this guy (and this company) won't need Lemonis. Which is good because, one day, Lemonis will be gone. But for now, at least, we are all here — him, and me, and you. We go up a mountain, and we come back down. We lead an army from the front, then we revert to the back. We spend a lifetime searching for where we belong, and how we are most useful, and why we will matter to others, only to realize that the answer was always ours to define. Related: Why Letting Go of Full Control of My Business Was the Hardest — and Smartest — Move I Ever Made
Business Wire
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Yet Another Retired Judge Rejects Frivolous Claims About T he Profit, and Its Lead Talent Marcus Lemonis, and Awards Camping World Subsidiary Nearly $5M in Damages and $4.5M in Attorneys' Fees and Costs
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Camping World, Inc. and FreedomRoads Holding Company, LLC, subsidiaries of Camping World Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CWH), won a total victory in the latest legal proceeding arising out of the unscripted television series on CNBC, The Profit. The case was brought by tiny home manufacturer and participants on The Profit, Tumbleweed Tiny Homes, and its CEO Steve Weissmann, who is personally liable to FreedomRoads for $4.1M in damages, and to Camping World, FreedomRoads, and Marcus Lemonis for nearly $4.5M in attorneys' fees and costs. Arbitrator Hon. Candace Cooper (Ret.) found Tumbleweed and Weissmann liable for their failure to pay back loans they took from FreedomRoads, which allowed Tumbleweed and Weissmann to keep their business open. Justice Cooper rejected every one of Tumbleweed and Weissmann's baseless allegations of misconduct, finding that the 'weight of the evidence shows that Lemonis was attempting to 'save' Tumbleweed, not have it fail . . .' Justice Cooper awarded Camping World, FreedomRoads, and Lemonis nearly $4.5M in attorneys' fees and costs and awarded another $5M in attorneys' fees and costs in favor of two other respondents, NBCUniversal and Machete Corporation. Judge Christopher Liu of the Los Angeles Superior Court confirmed Justice Cooper's award and entered judgment against Weissmann and Tumbleweed on July 8, 2025. Following Justice Cooper's award, a recent public filing shows that Weissmann continued to accept customer orders for tiny homes and hundreds of thousands of dollars in customer deposits even though he knew Tumbleweed did not have the funds to keep operating the business. That filing shows that nearly a dozen customers trusted Weissmann with $250,000 in deposits on tiny home orders he never fulfilled, and as of recently, Weissmann had not paid his customers back. In response to the award, Lemonis stated, 'I hope this case is an example to people that there are consequences for pursuing false allegations. The truth matters. In this case, yet again, the truth won.' This is the second fully litigated case arising out of The Profit. In the first (brought by the Estate of Precise Graphix), Arbitrator Hon. Ann I. Jones (Ret.) found 'Marcus Lemonis, at all times, acted in good faith with regard to Precise Graphix' and awarded over $7 million to the defendants, including Lemonis and Camping World. Two other similar cases arising out of the show and brought by Fox met similar fates. In one, a New York state court sanctioned Fox and awarded his clients nothing. In another, in Illinois State Court, Fox voluntarily dismissed his clients' claims against Lemonis after threats of sanctions for pursuing frivolous claims. About Camping World Holdings, Inc. Camping World Holdings, Inc., headquartered in Lincolnshire, IL, (together with its subsidiaries) is the world's largest retailer of RVs and related products and services. Through Camping World and Good Sam brands, our vision is to build a business that makes RVing and other outdoor adventures fun and easy. We strive to build long-term value for our customers, employees, and stockholders by combining a unique and comprehensive assortment of RV products and services with a national network of RV dealerships, service centers and customer support centers along with the industry's most extensive online presence and a highly trained and knowledgeable team of associates serving our customers, the RV lifestyle, and the communities in which we operate. We also believe that our Good Sam organization and family of highly specialized services and plans, including roadside assistance, protection plans and insurance, uniquely enables us to connect with our customers as stewards of an outdoor and recreational lifestyle. With RV sales and service locations in 44 states, Camping World has grown to become the prime destination for everything RV. For more information, visit
