Peloton lost more than $1.2 billion last quarter. Is the company spinning its wheels?
Peloton lost more than $1.2 billion last quarter. Is the company spinning its wheels?
Peloton investors are digesting the company’s massive quarterly loss, which executives Thursday said totaled more than $1.2 billion.
It’s the latest sign that the maker of fitness equipment – whose exercise bikes helped make it an early pandemic darling – may be spinning its wheels. Post-lockdown demand for Peloton bikes and treadmills has plummeted.
Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities says that this, along with recent layoffs and store closures, means the company’s future is looking pretty bleak.
“It just feels like the management team’s grasping at straws when it comes to the strategy, he said. “I think their playbook is still confusing.”
Part of Peloton’s turnaround strategy has rested on selling subscriptions, which are up year over year. But the company added just 4,000 subscribers in the last quarter.
“I think they need to add more value to the relationship that they have with their current base,” said NYU business professor Anat Lechner.
Lechner, a longtime Peloton aficionado herself, says with growth at the company being anemic, it might be time to consider a different approach. That could mean tapping into the data the company already has on customers like her to personalize the experience.
For now, Peloton is trying to expand its customer pool most recently with a deal to sell its wares on Amazon.
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