Peloton Founders Are Leaving the Company (bloomberg.com) 42
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Peloton Executive Chairman and co-founder John Foley is stepping down from the fitness company as part of a leadership shake-up, extending the turbulence at a business trying to pull out of a deep slump. Foley, who helped start Peloton in 2012 and served as chief executive officer for 10 years, is resigning effective Monday, the company said in a statement. Foley took the executive chairman role in February when he handed the reins to CEO Barry McCarthy, a veteran of Spotify and Netflix.
Chief Legal Officer Hisao Kushi, another co-founder, is also headed for the exits. He'll be replaced in that role by Tammy Albarran, who Peloton recruited from Uber Technologies Inc. The chairman role, meanwhile, will be filled by Karen Boone, a former Restoration Hardware executive who currently serves as lead independent director. Peloton investors initially applauded the changes, sending the shares up as much as 5.3% to $11.64 in extended trading on Monday. But the rally soon evaporated, with the stock declining more than 2%. The reshuffling extends a year of upheaval at New York-based Peloton, which thrived in the early days of the pandemic but is now suffering from declining sales and mounting losses. Its shares are down about 90% over the past year, and the company has struggled to work through a glut of inventory.
Separately, Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils is also leaving Peloton and won't be replaced. Some of Cornils's responsibilities will be assumed by Dion Sanders as he takes the role of chief emerging business officer, according to an internal memo from McCarthy reviewed by Bloomberg. Chief Content Officer Jen Cotter will assume control of apparel and accessories, showing that the company remains committed to that market. Albarran will take over Peloton's legal operations on Oct. 3. She helped oversee a corporate makeover at Uber, which set out to change its image in 2017 after its hard-charging style led to scandals and a strained relationship with drivers. Peloton looks to draw on the experience of Albarran and Boone to "help move the company forward into our next chapter of growth," McCarthy said.
Chief Legal Officer Hisao Kushi, another co-founder, is also headed for the exits. He'll be replaced in that role by Tammy Albarran, who Peloton recruited from Uber Technologies Inc. The chairman role, meanwhile, will be filled by Karen Boone, a former Restoration Hardware executive who currently serves as lead independent director. Peloton investors initially applauded the changes, sending the shares up as much as 5.3% to $11.64 in extended trading on Monday. But the rally soon evaporated, with the stock declining more than 2%. The reshuffling extends a year of upheaval at New York-based Peloton, which thrived in the early days of the pandemic but is now suffering from declining sales and mounting losses. Its shares are down about 90% over the past year, and the company has struggled to work through a glut of inventory.
Separately, Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Cornils is also leaving Peloton and won't be replaced. Some of Cornils's responsibilities will be assumed by Dion Sanders as he takes the role of chief emerging business officer, according to an internal memo from McCarthy reviewed by Bloomberg. Chief Content Officer Jen Cotter will assume control of apparel and accessories, showing that the company remains committed to that market. Albarran will take over Peloton's legal operations on Oct. 3. She helped oversee a corporate makeover at Uber, which set out to change its image in 2017 after its hard-charging style led to scandals and a strained relationship with drivers. Peloton looks to draw on the experience of Albarran and Boone to "help move the company forward into our next chapter of growth," McCarthy said.
Are they leaving by (Score:3)
Are they leaving by bicycle?
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Nah, if they're leaving by their trademark bike or treadmill, they are going nowhere fast... they seem to be fleeing the mothership as fast as rats experiencing a sinking feeling.
Peloton needs another novel coronavirus like a fat kid needs cake.
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TFA: "Stepping down", ha ha, I get it, even on a Monday.
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Are you kidding me? Peleton was never about actually riding bicycles. It was about image, and...uh...social, and...uh...wellness.
Besides, there's a difference between crushing it on a stationary bike and actually going somewhere on two wheels. Without their motivational guru cheering them on, they wouldn't even have the willpower to push off.
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TL;DR (Score:2)
The ship is sinking, I bet new management probably hopes to be bought out by someone like Amazon, although even they are having a tough time with their acquisition of the maker of Roomba.
-dumb opinions free or your money back.
The value of PTON is lost on most (Score:4, Insightful)
I do not understand how they could have screwed up a company like this during a time when people are stuck at home and/or interested in avoiding a bunch of plague rats at the local gym. They should be in negotiations to buy Amazon by now, not going bankrupt.
How do you even do that?!
Agreed! They created a market and have a compelling product their users love. They are the Apple of home fitness with the irony that Apple Fitness+ is a total joke. Seriously...try the Apple product and try Peloton. It's like going from a blackberry to an iPhone 13. Everything about Peloton is done better from the technical details, the user experience, and the instructors.
Apple Fitness+ is the Christian Rock of fitness classes.
And beyond the competition, there are a ton of people who are like me and have busy schedules and need to keep fit at weird hours and gaps between meetings or when the kids are asleep or who think they want to and will pay the monthly fee and barely use the gear/classes. Given how enthusiastically beloved they are by their customers, they should really be rolling in the dough.
Re:The value of PTON is lost on most (Score:5, Insightful)
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Very true. But you know how Wall Street works. All growth is good. More growth is better. Any slowdown in growth is unacceptable.
Their stock price got absolutely hammered once it became clear that they could not sustain the crazy levels of pandemic-era growth, for what should have been understandable reasons. But rather than just roll with this, management panicked and tried to bullshit market analysts and make excuses, etc etc. Now the company is in all-around panic mode. Plus, management itself seemed to
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I do not understand how they could have screwed up a company like this during a time when people are stuck at home and/or interested in avoiding a bunch of plague rats at the local gym. They should be in negotiations to buy Amazon by now, not going bankrupt.
How do you even do that?!
Agreed! They created a market and have a compelling product their users love. They are the Apple of home fitness with the irony that Apple Fitness+ is a total joke. Seriously...try the Apple product and try Peloton. It's like going from a blackberry to an iPhone 13. Everything about Peloton is done better from the technical details, the user experience, and the instructors.
Apple Fitness+ is the Christian Rock of fitness classes.
And beyond the competition, there are a ton of people who are like me and have busy schedules and need to keep fit at weird hours and gaps between meetings or when the kids are asleep or who think they want to and will pay the monthly fee and barely use the gear/classes. Given how enthusiastically beloved they are by their customers, they should really be rolling in the dough.
You're right, but the company has been burning through cash like there's no end to the cash. I thought that it was all Foley's fault because the man should have been hawking something on infomercials, Peloton A Call to Action [blackwellscap.com], but it keeps losing SO MUCH MONEY.
Add to that the horrible customer service experience, and it's no wonder that the company is still having problems. We love our Peloton Bike, but when it eventually dies, I don't know that I won't replace it with something else. We were shopping the
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The management of a year ago likely is not the management that can move the company forward. They are now in a highly competitive business with low barriers to entry and profit margins. Like Apple gives these videos away as part of the $50 a month Apple One
Seeya suckers (Score:4, Funny)
Got my golden parachute. The rest of you can go down in flames.
Unintended humor? (Score:1)
"help move the company forward into our next chapter of growth"
They pioneered a business model (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes me wonder what their next act is going to be.
OMG, Now that you say it... (Score:2)
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Or a real road bike that you can actually ride outdoors when its nice. With a super-nice TACX or Wahoo indoor trainer for the winter. With Zwift. All for less than the price of a heavy piece of fitness equipment that sits indoors all the time.
If you need someone yelling while cranking out the watts just turn on the TV when you have to be on the trainer when the weather is inclement.
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... or buy a pair of trainers; stick a couple of podcasts on your phone and go for a run.
Small wonder (Score:2)
They have strong legs and endurance.
It was obvious the pandemic surge was short lived (Score:2)
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They knew exactly what was going to happen. That's why they're leaving with the money now.
This isn't an "Oh shit, we never expected this to happen, we're sorry and take our responsibility.".
This is "I got my stock values liquidated and there's nothing left to suck from this company, so long suckers."
Unstustainable (Score:5, Informative)
Peloton had a surge in growth for two reasons.
First, they were granted an absurd patent (basically watching a video while using an exercise machine) that was both self-obvious and had prior art. They used this to go after their competition, and if I remember correctly one company was forced out of business. Two of those patents were just reversed in January.
Second, Covid hit, and enough people at that time still had disposable income to blow on a several thousand dollar stationary bike since they couldn't make it to the local health club. Peloton was in the exact position to capitalize off that, and they did.
The Peloton bubble has burst, and it won't be inflating again either.
A fad like watching movies at home? (Score:2)
Second, Covid hit, and enough people at that time still had disposable income to blow on a several thousand dollar stationary bike since they couldn't make it to the local health club. Peloton was in the exact position to capitalize off that, and they did.
The Peloton bubble has burst, and it won't be inflating again either.
Some people prefer to watch a movie at home. Some think the movie theater is a superior experience. Peloton basically made the first popular VCR. Peloton is the first popular smart fitness platform. The gamify working out with streaks, metrics, and challenges. They provide content that their users love to motivate them. None of this was available in any popular format before. It seems so basic and obvious, but Silicon Valley Nerds just don't think about fitness or health as much as they probably shou
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Peloton was not a business. (Score:4, Insightful)
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People are still doing jazzercise or Tae Bo.
Peloton isn't quite as big as faddish - really it's just a best-in-class rendition of an exercise bike/treadmill, and these have been consistently popular for decades now.
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For people like my wife who actually follow a class and want to change resistance during
It's the app/experience, not the bike (Score:3)
really it's just a best-in-class rendition of an exercise bike/treadmill, and these have been consistently popular for decades now.
The bike is fine, the classes and instructors really are what give them the edge. As you state, exercise bikes have been around since before any of us were born. However, few people use theirs consistently. Introducing an app/experience/community helps make it "stickier." Peloton users are more likely to actually use their bikes than people who bought theirs 10 years ago.
That's what I think most people are missing. They're critiquing the bike in the photos (duh, I can bolt an iPad to an exercise bi
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They're still the iPhone/iPad of connected fitness (Score:2)
Nordictrack offers less expensive bikes with a similar monthly fee. Other companies, like TRX, offer a monthly subscription with a much cheaper product to buy. Peloton tried unsuccessfully to keep others from copying their business. For those that already own a bike, continuing to pay Peloton makes sense. For new customers, there are a whole lot of other choices now.
There are 100s of cheaper options to an iPhone, but it's still a top seller. More importantly, both Peloton and iPhone have such a loyal following, most customers won't consider anything else. I bought peloton stock because i saw how irrationally loyal their customers are. That said, I bought at $15 and it's underwater...so...Wall Street disagrees with me.
If a competitor offered a better bike at the same cost, that customer would still have all their friends tell them to get a peloton. They have a s
I'm unsurprised (Score:2)
...that a Restoration Hardware exec is in charge.
Their business models seem eerily similar: convince people that buy paying vastly overpriced crap that they can easily find elsewhere, they're somehow getting a boutique, better product.
Shouldn't there be Apple execs in there too?
Ah, member when... (Score:1)
...pets.com? ...askjeeves.com? ...etoys.com? ...geocities.com? ...blockbuster?
You can't have evolution without extinction, and you can't have capitalism without bankruptcy.
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And yet some did okay...Amazon. For many, it was just the whole Information Superhighway hype/Internet Bubble. But, businesses have been growing and going bankrupt long before that, and at about the same rate...nothing new there.