Peloton: boss John Foley leaves, 2800 jobs will be cut

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A Peloton bike: is the boom over?

PHOTO: SHANNON STAPLETON / REUTERS

The American fitness equipment specialist Peloton is undergoing restructuring and dismantling: the boss John Foley has to go, 2,800 jobs are to be cut.

That is around a fifth of the jobs.

The construction of a new factory was also stopped.

The measures are intended to help the company out of the crisis.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on it.

Barry McCarthy, who was previously CFO at streaming specialists Netflix and Spotify, is to become the new boss from February 9th.

That could mean a greater focus on subscription revenue rather than hardware sales.

Weeks of waiting for the trend bikes

Peloton was one of the big winners early in the pandemic.

Many customers of closed fitness studios brought the company's comparatively expensive training bikes home.

Sometimes the demand was so high that customers had to wait weeks for their bikes.

In addition, Peloton scored with a subscription model that should ensure a sustainable flow of finance.

The company was worth almost $50 billion in January 2021.

But the boom abated when the corona restrictions were eased - and Peloton obviously overestimated demand.

In November, the New York company had to slash its sales forecast for the fiscal year ending in mid-2022 by up to a billion dollars.

The stock market then crashed, and the company lost more than 80 percent of its market capitalization.

In January 2022, management consultants from McKinsey should then find solutions to the crisis: among other things, they recommended closing some of the expensive flagship stores.

According to media reports, Amazon and Nike, among others, are also considering takeover bids.

The change in leadership and austerity measures should indicate that

is looking to secure its future as an independent company.

The

share, which recently jumped by around a fifth in the face of takeover speculation, fell by more than three percent in early US trading after the company's plans were announced.

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