Peloton CEO Steps Down, Company Faces Delisting Threat

Well, Peloton, the manufacturer of fitness equipment and the provider of online workout classes, has recently announced that 400 employees, which make up 15% of its workforce, will be let go. Additionally, and notable, the CEO, president and board director Barry McCarthy will step down from his role after serving for two years. McCarthy, who previously held executive positions at Netflix and Spotify, was brought out of retirement in early 2022. By Pelotonics co-founder John Foley, who then resigned as part of a larger cost cutting initiative that resulted in 2800 layoffs years ago. Now Peloton is currently in the process of searching for a new CEO to take McCarthy’s place and in the meantime, Karen Boone, the current Peloton chair, and Chris Sabruzo, a director of the company, will serve as interim Co CEOs during the transition. We can take a look at a two day chart here. The stock is down at 4 1/2 percent. I’m looking at an intraday chart here. Down more than 6% today, Dave, just about $3 a share. So certainly a stock as we get closer to a dollar per share does actually risk getting delisted from an exchange like the New York Stock Exchange certainly seems like a possibility of context on that look at a four year chart. They’re down 97% from their pandemic high. They really are the definition of a pandemic darling, because we all stayed in, we all wanted to work out at home, but the pandemic built them and then crushed them because everyone wanted to suddenly get out experience, go back to class and we’re seeing change open up all over the place. I’m surprised they didn’t take more advantage of the brand and open up stores the way we’ve seen F45 or BFT or Soul Cycle pop up around the country. I don’t know what they’re going to do to turn this ship around because Barry McCarthy tried everything. The only thing I think they haven’t done enough of, and I ride the bike daily or I use the app daily because I meditate on here every day. Yeah. Look, I’m a big meditation fan. I think as a workout app could be their best hope, right? And that’s what they wanted to obviously move into during the pandemic, but it hasn’t been enough to keep it sustainable, right? But it was interesting that they did, I think, have ambitions certainly to expand into retail massive foot space in the new Hudson Yards area before the pandemic that they wanted to move into very high price real estate. But to your point, obviously that didn’t pan out and so now a digital experience would seem like the way to go. Certainly more cost effective, but their employees are down to 1/3 of what they were at their pandemic high to. It looks like tough roads ahead, but you’re a loyal customer.