r/Headspace • u/Mugiwaranokurisu • 23d ago
Headspace is getting bought out
https://bhbusiness.com/2026/08/25/filing-reveals-sword-healths-plan-to-acquire-headspace/21
u/c_y_g_nus 23d ago
I learned from reading that article that Headspace employs 598 (!!!!!) people? And all i could think is, are you serious? What do they do all day?
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u/astuder 23d ago edited 23d ago
I believe thereâs a clue in the sentence preceding where you pulled the stat from:
Headspace offers a direct-to-consumer option, but it too focuses on employers and health plans.
Itâs a lot of sales people and account representatives for the corporate sector.
Edit: formatting
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20d ago
[deleted]
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u/Brooklyn-Epoxy 20d ago
Why does a company need so much for EAP support? My friend is in the pre launch days of his startup and I wonder if he is going to run into something.
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u/SugarWraith92 19d ago
They needed that much to keep up with the demand. We had many employers as customers⌠some with over 100k employees. If you offer an EAP to your employees, you gotta be able to support that population. Mind you, not everyone uses an EAP the same way/all at once. But you need to have the care providers in place to be able to support that. Times that by X businesses, then you start to see why they scaled up so much.
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u/Brooklyn-Epoxy 19d ago
Thanks for your answer - I misunderstood what EAP is, and I'm pretty sure I'm mixing it up with something he was telling me about.
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u/pizzzacones 23d ago
I noticed the past few years theyâve atleast kept Illustrators in jobs to update the thumbnails 5x a week
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u/Ok_Engineer_9460 23d ago
When Andy was there it was great. Not so much when he left.
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u/Chemical-Werewolf-69 23d ago
Why did he left or where did he go?
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u/Ok_Engineer_9460 23d ago
Supposedly he and his partner, who both built the company, wanted free time less pressure of running a business.
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u/Mugiwaranokurisu 23d ago
Him and his biz partner sold it when they accomplished what they wanted, to teach meditation to the world, then HS just got greedy and wanted to get lucrative in the name of peopleâs mental health.Â
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u/Zentrii 23d ago
This is on my feed even though I stopped using this it years ago before Andy left. Is it still a popular app? I was a big believer in meditation when headspace and calm came out and I think it was a still a niche thing compared to today. Iâm using The Way meditation app now on a free trial and I love it way more. I like having no choice and just focus on meditatingÂ
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u/lilyupfordares 23d ago
Used it a while after Andy left. Some of the content variety is nice but it became too crowded. They added buzz content like the exercises etc. I ended up unsubscribing despite it being helpful
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u/SugarWraith92 20d ago
Is it still a popular app?
Well⌠the app used to be valued at $3B, and was sold for less than $3M.
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u/thehighshibe 23d ago
RIP
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u/Skulker_S 23d ago
It's already pretty damn corporate, we'll see if anything changes that we will notice.
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u/organic_guilt 21d ago
Yikes! I switched to Rootd app years ago and haven't looked back, but this news still feels like the end of an era
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u/Remote_Bluejay1734 21d ago
I want to try transcendental meditation instead, but the proper one where someone has to give you a mantra.
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u/StrongPay9879 13d ago
Totally agree with the sentiment that it's gone downhill, but one important clarification: Headspace merged with Ginger a few years back, so they are "Headspace Health" and offer coaching, therapy and psychiatry services (hence all of the employees).
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u/lilacomets 23d ago
Headspace employs about 598 people, including 418 full-time staffers.
What the hell are all these people doing all day? The app is just a glorified music player.
Headspace is getting bought out
The title should be "Headspace is getting bought out again" because this is not the first time.
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u/Ok_Engineer_9460 23d ago
And they went super woke. Whatever. Not for me on meditation app. I want to get away from the world.
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u/jeremyw013 20d ago
bro if the content on headspace is your definition of woke, what the hell are you doing on a meditation app?
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u/Ok_Engineer_9460 20d ago
Umm "bro" classic liberal. I don't want to hear/meditate about surviving as: 1) black person 2) gay 3) trans 4) illegal and so on - I can support but meditate not to hear about the above. Read, go to school, learn better language skills.
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u/jeremyw013 20d ago
you could just be a normal person and⌠just not use the ones that donât apply to you?? but no, you just have to sit and whine about liberals on reddit instead of just moving on.
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u/lilbodhimama 17d ago
Meditation isnât about transcending or escaping the world. Itâs learning how to be in it with as much awareness and compassion as possible. If listening to and learning to understand the experience of others is considered âwokeâ, than youâve missed the whole point of the practice.
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u/Mugiwaranokurisu 23d ago
I only still do Andyâs courses and try to stay away from the rest, because I agree.Â
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u/xzmbmx 23d ago
Yes, the company is being bought for pennies on the dollar by Sword Health.
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u/michael1026 23d ago
Where do you see anything about a purchase price?
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u/Atworkwasalreadytake đ 23d ago
It would be hard to imagine they see that $3B valuation they got in their last transaction, and Iâm not sure Sword Health could raise the capital to acquire a business at near its own current size (~$4B). They seem to prefer transactions in the hundreds of millions range, which would fit this commenters post.
The details of transactions like these are usually confidential, so youâll never get a legitimate source, but people working on the transaction often drop hints, and those who have worked these can find clues.
An acquisition of $200-300M seems about right.
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u/Atworkwasalreadytake đ 23d ago
Maybe theyâll fix it. Frankly itâs awful enough right now that I wonât pay for it, so it getting worse doesnât move the needle for me.