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Image-obsessed management, over-leveraged personal loans and wild promises of a $1,000 share price:
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Image-obsessed management, over-leveraged personal loans and wild promises of a $1,000 share price:

How Peloton founder John Foley lost his company



Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Peloton bikes were a hit in spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered gyms worldwide. Home-based fitness took off, and John Foley’s small company, with its networked exercise bikes and social media presence, took advantage, earning $2 billion a year in subscriptions. But, as Becky Peterson, Dakin Campbell and Kylie Robison report for Business Insider UK, the boom ended with COVID-19. To satisfy investors, Foley – who remains with the company – stepped down as CEO as new CEO Barry McCarthy took charge of Peloton. Will a tech or sports industry giant acquire Peloton or can the founder and the CEO save it? Foley has the grit and determination, and McCarthy the sound financial sense to pull it off.

Take-Aways

  • John Foley stepped down as Peloton’s CEO, but remains committed to its success.
  • Foley was a “hands-on” CEO who sometimes upset Peloton staff,  consumers and investors.
  • Blackwells Capital assessed that Peloton had grown too large, complicated and dysfunctional to remain in Foley’s control.

About the Authors

Becky Peterson is a tech features correspondent; Dakin Campbell is Insider’s chief finance correspondent and reporter Kylie Robison covers software developers and their communities, tools, startups, and more at Insider’s cloud technology desk. Katie Warren contributed to this report.


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