Peloton just never worked out...
At one point, Peloton was the pandemic success story. Everyone was buying the bike. Everyone was talking about the instructors. Everyone thought it would change fitness forever.
Now? It’s a different story.
Peloton’s stock has crashed. Its leadership has been overhauled. Customers have left. And the company’s been hit with multiple recalls. The question now is whether this is a temporary setback—or if Peloton’s best days are behind it.
The Pandemic Boom
When gyms shut down in 2020, Peloton took off. Its revenue more than doubled, its membership exploded, and its stock price shot to over $160. Investors thought it would become the Apple of fitness.
To meet demand, Peloton built out its supply chain, ordered tons of hardware, and invested like the boom would never slow down.
It did.
The Crash
Once the world opened back up, reality hit. Sales slowed. Inventory piled up. And then came the recalls.
First, it was the treadmill—recalled after a child died in an accident. Then, more recently, Peloton recalled over 2 million bikes due to seat post issues. That second recall alone cost up to $40 million.
At the same time, Peloton was bleeding cash and losing subscribers. In Q3 2024:
Revenue fell to $717.7 million, down 4% from the year before
The company posted a net loss of $167 million
Fitness subscriptions declined by over 5% in one quarter
Investors panicked. The stock dropped below $5. That’s a $45 billion company turned into a $1.6 billion one.
The Pivot
Peloton’s founder and CEO, John Foley, stepped down. Barry McCarthy—former CFO at Spotify and Netflix—took over. His goal: stop acting like a hardware company and start acting like a digital platform.
He pushed through some major changes:
Peloton stopped making its own bikes and outsourced production
It started selling through third-party retailers like Amazon and DICK’s
It introduced cheaper subscriptions and new product tiers
It rolled out gamified features, like Peloton Lanebreak, to keep people engaged
It leaned hard into content—strength training, rowing, yoga, you name it
It was a full-on reinvention. The idea was to make Peloton less about the $1,500 bike and more about the $13/month app.
But that strategy is still unproven. The brand that once had die-hard fans now faces real questions: Does it still stand out? Is anyone paying attention?
Trying to Stay Relevant
Lately, Peloton has been experimenting with partnerships—collaborating with the NBA, Liverpool FC, and universities like Michigan to stay in the conversation.
They’re also replacing some of the recalled bikes, not just repairing them, to try to rebuild trust. It’s a good move, but expensive.
Internally, there’s still hope. The company has enough cash (for now), a loyal niche user base, and a well-known brand. But time’s running out.