Peloton is not being acquired by Apple, Nike or Amazon in the near future even though it is widely rumored lately, said CEO Barry McCarthy.
The stock of the beleaguered fitness giant has been down by about 75 percent over the period of past one year due to the reopening of gyms after the COVID-19 lockdown phase was eased. The market was favorable to it during the 2020 pandemic period and continued in early 2021.
McCarthy said while talking to the Financial Times while on a move to New York from California that if he had thought Peloton is being sold in near future, it would not have been rational for him to move from one place to another for the company as there are many other lucrative things to do rather than hanging out with such a company that is about to be acquired.
McCarthy became CEO lately in February replacing John Foley, the founder of Peloton who had stepped down after axing about 2,800 jobs. Foley is currently the executive chairman and has retained a good majority of the supervoting shares. Some other company insiders too hold such shares. This means the decision to sell is not under the control of McCarthy.
However, McCarthy is confident that maximum votes will be in his favor and this is the reason he had agreed to become the CEO of the company. He was earlier the CFO of Spotify and Netflix.
Meanwhile, Foley said the company overextended the production capacity in 2020 and 2021. Insiders reveal the total inventory of treadmills and bikes is in excess for about two years.
McCarthy said will be focusing more on the digital content like revamping the monthly subscription service that is currently $39 per month.
Peloton is based in New York City and was founded in January 2012 by Graham Stanton, Yony Feng, Tom Cortese, John Foley and Hisao Kushi. It is an exercise equipment company and the primary products include Internet-based treadmills and stationary bicycles. It charges a monthly subscription of $39 to access various features including classes. Website and app users need to pay just a $12.99 membership fee per month.
The company sold the first bike in 2013 and offered a discounted price of $1,500. A year later Peloton launched its first stationary bicycle.
Peloton expanded to Canada and the United Kingdom in 2018. It went public in 2019 and raised $1.16 billion from the IPO. It announced acquiring of Precor USA in December 2020 from Amer Sports.