Ken Meares Net Worth 2026: Great HealthWorks Founder

No reputable outlet has published an estimate of Ken Meares' net worth. The $15 million figure that circulates online, including on an earlier version of this page, has no traceable source, so we have removed it. What can be documented is the business behind his wealth: Meares founded Great HealthWorks, the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, company that makes the OmegaXL joint supplement, in 2003, and it is still privately held.

What is Ken Meares' net worth?

There is no published figure from Forbes, Bloomberg, Celebrity Net Worth or any business newspaper. Great HealthWorks is a private company, so it does not report revenue, profit or who owns what share of it. Any number you see for Meares personally is a guess.

What the public record does show is that the company he started has grown into a sizable employer. A 2012 profile in New You magazine said Great HealthWorks had about 250 employees on site. A 2021 real-estate report in The Real Deal recorded the company renewing a long-term lease on a 52,900-square-foot building in Hollywood, Florida. In 2025 the company described itself as a vertically integrated operation that does its own encapsulation, bottling and fulfillment in a press release, and The Org lists its headcount in the 501 to 1,000 range.

Where the money comes from

Meares' wealth is tied to his ownership of Great HealthWorks, whose products are sold mainly direct to consumers through TV advertising, phone orders and the web. The company's own releases list these brands:

• OmegaXL: the flagship, a soft-gel made from New Zealand green-lipped mussel oil (the PCSO-524 extract), marketed for joint comfort.
• OmegaXL Sport: a stronger version for athletes that carries NSF Certified for Sport status, according to a 2025 company announcement.
• HeartXL, MemoryXL and SleepXL: products aimed at buyers over 55.
• ProbioticXL, DefenseXL, VitaminXL and TurmericXL: general supplements that round out the range.

The company says it sells on Walmart.com and Amazon in the U.S. and Canada, and in some stores in Puerto Rico. In July 2026 it announced its first U.S. retail deal with GNC, which put OmegaXL Sport and a new OmegaXL + Krill product into GNC stores nationwide. The release noted that OmegaXL had been sold direct to consumers since 2003.

Career before Great HealthWorks

Most of what is known about Meares' early career comes from a single long profile, "Omega Man," published by New You in August 2012. New You is a magazine that is now part of the Great HealthWorks group (its president is also the company's chief strategy officer, according to The Org), so treat it as a friendly account rather than independent reporting. According to that profile:

• Meares was a professional weightlifter earlier in life and kept up a daily training routine into his late 60s.
• He built the first Gold's Gyms and later assembled chains of health clubs.
• Before Great HealthWorks he ran a national supplement business that sold a topical pain-relief product for athletes.
• He came across green-lipped mussel oil at 58, gave samples to friends and family, and then built OmegaXL around it.

We could not find independent confirmation of the Gold's Gym claim in news archives, so it rests on that profile alone.

OmegaXL, TV advertising and Larry King

OmegaXL became widely known through long-form TV ads. In 2013 the broadcaster Larry King was named "Ambassador for Omega XL" and hosted an infomercial styled like his old CNN set, in which he interviewed Meares about the product. The New York Post covered the campaign in October 2013 and was openly skeptical of it. In more recent ads Meares has appeared alongside presenter Connie Craig-Carroll.

FDA warning letter (2021)

On June 23, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Great HealthWorks, addressed to Meares as chief executive. The agency said that claims on the company's websites for OmegaXL and ProbioticXL, such as relief of joint pain from inflammation and reducing harmful bacteria, made the products unapproved new drugs under federal law. The FDA asked the company to correct the claims. A warning letter is an advisory step, not a fine or a court ruling.

Recent changes (2025 to 2026)

Meares is still described as the founder in every company release, but day-to-day leadership has moved on. Company announcements in April 2025 and October 2025 name Andrew LaBarbera as CEO of Great HealthWorks, so older descriptions of Meares as the current CEO are out of date. Other recent moves:

• April 2025: the company earned Great Place to Work certification; it said 87% of staff called it a great place to work.
• September 2025: it launched MemoryXL with Spanish-language journalist Neida Sandoval as its first ambassador.
• October 2025: OmegaXL Sport signed a multi-year sponsorship with the NBA's Miami Heat.
• July 2026: OmegaXL products went on sale at GNC, the brand's first move into U.S. retail stores.

Ken Meares' age

His date of birth has not been published. The 2012 New You profile gave his age as 68, which points to a birth year around 1944 and an age of about 82 in 2026. The earlier version of this page said he was 57, which does not match that source.

Height and weight

No reliable source gives his height or weight. The figures on the old version of this page (5 feet 7 inches and 78 kg) had no source and have been removed.

Ken Meares' wife and family

We could not find a reputable source that names Ken Meares' wife or gives details of his family. The name given on the earlier version of this page could not be verified, so we have left it out rather than repeat an unsourced claim.

Education

His education has not been publicly reported. The earlier version of this page said he held a university degree, but no source supports that.

Net worth compared

Meares belongs to a small group of founders who built health and fitness brands and kept them private. Bill Henniger of Rogue Fitness is a close parallel on the equipment side. For other business profiles on this site, see Brian Maillian and Kisha Royse. As with Meares, their fortunes depend on private companies whose accounts are not public, which is why published estimates vary so much.

Why there is no reliable estimate

A credible net worth estimate needs something to measure: company revenue, a sale price, an ownership stake or public property records. Great HealthWorks publishes none of these. We do not know how much of the company Meares still owns, whether he has sold shares, or how profitable OmegaXL is. Websites that quote $7 million, $15 million or even $500 million are content farms that cite no evidence. Until a business publication reports on the company's finances, the honest answer is that his net worth is unknown, though running a company of several hundred employees for more than two decades suggests he is wealthy.