Marcus Lemonis ordered to pay $14 million over negative comments about participants on his reality show 'The Profit'

• An arbitrator ordered Marcus Lemonis to pay $14.1 million after finding he violated a 2021 settlement tied to his CNBC show "The Profit."
• The arbitration award and findings were filed in New York State Supreme Court as part of a petition seeking to have the arbitration ruling enforced.
• The 2021 settlement involved 40 companies that alleged harm from appearing on the show, BI previously reported.

Marcus Lemonis, the new CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond, was ordered by an arbitrator to pay more than $14 million to a group of business owners whose companies appeared on "The Profit," a CNBC reality show he hosted until 2021.

The arbitrator found that Lemonis violated the terms of a 2021 settlement barring him from making statements that could harm their reputations, according to documents filed in New York state court. The documents were filed as part of a petition to confirm the arbitration award after a 30-day payment deadline lapsed.

The business owners said Lemonis ran afoul of the settlement terms when he spoke about them negatively over the span of roughly a year, starting in November 2021.

"In the ten years of making 'The Profit,' I probably — from people who were just dumb or people that had bad character — I probably lost $50 million," he said in December 2021.

Both sides went to arbitration in May 2025, and the 98-page decision was issued in late November. It was filed in New York State Supreme Court at the end of last year.

The arbitrator, retired judge Ariel Belen, concluded that Lemonis' "disdain for the respondents, complete disregard to his obligations in the settlement agreement, and apparent lack of concern for the harm suffered by respondents were all put on full display during the arbitration hearing."

Lemonis, the former CEO of Camping World, was directed to pay $100,000 for each of three violations — for a total of $300,000 — to 47 parties, for a sum of $14.1 million.

Lemonis had 30 days to pay. The petition was filed in state court one month after the arbitration award was issued, and alleged that Lemonis failed to pay. The document seeks a judge's order to make it enforceable.

A New York state judge has not yet ruled on whether to confirm the arbitration award. Lemonis and his lawyers at Latham and Watkins have yet to file a response or opposition to the petition. They have until early February.

Lemonis and his attorneys didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

In 2021, Lemonis and NBCUniversal, whose business news network CNBC aired "The Profit," settled for $11 million, with 40 companies that appeared on "The Profit" paid $275,000 each, after the companies alleged they suffered harm by appearing on the show, as first reported by Business Insider.

That settlement included terms that prevented the small business owners and Lemonis from disparaging each other.

Lemonis hosted "The Profit" from 2013 to 2021, dispensing business advice and tough love tactics to over 100 small businesses across the U.S. More than 50 filed lawsuits, engaged in mediation talks, or settled over the harm they say they endured, Business Insider previously reported.

As early as 2013, a business owner hired an attorney to try and prevent NBCUniversal from airing their episode, which they said contained misrepresentations, records obtained by Business Insider show.

Two years later, a different business owner sent a letter to NBCUniversal "informing them of the fraud and defamation that the show and Lemonis perpetrated on him."

A similar sentiment was echoed by business owners who testified during the May arbitration. Michael Kilchenstein, who founded a ski company called RAMP Sports, said that the company's main investor told them to shut down after Lemonis reneged on the deal agreed to during filming.

"This whole thing has been the most stressful, painful thing I've ever been through," Kilchenstein testified.

Kilchenstein declined to comment.

Last year, Lemonis debuted a new show on FOX, called "The Fixer," with a similar premise to "The Profit."

Lemonis stepped down as CEO and chairman of the board at Camping World on January 1. Earlier this week, Bed Bath & Beyond, the home goods retailer that went bankrupt in 2023 and where Lemonis had been executive chairman, said he would take over as CEO.