Peloton CEO Quashes Sale Idea

(RTTNews) - Fitness company Peloton Interactive's (PTON) new CEO, Barry McCarthy, said today that he might not sell the company, sending ripples across the market. In the past 7 days, the company was being linked to retail giants like Amazon, Inc. (AMZN), Nike, Inc (NKE) and Apple, Inc. (AAPL).

McCarthy replaced the controversially departed John Foley and laid off 2,800 employees at a single swoop as an attempt to restructure the company as talks of a sale continue to loom large. The value of the company has also plunged to $8 billion, from $50 billion in early 2020.

McCarthy said during an interview with FT that if selling is the only purpose of his appointment, it would not be judicious of him to relocate from California to New York. "If I thought it was likely that the business was going to be acquired in the foreseeable future, I can't imagine it would be a rational act to move across the country. There are lots of other things I could be doing with my time that are quite lucrative than hanging out with a business that's about to be sold," McCarthy said.

"There are lots of other things I could be doing with my time that are quite lucrative than hanging out with a business that's about to be sold," he added.

McCarthy's experience as a CFO at Netflix and Spotify, two of the biggest subscription service companies, is expected to help Peloton turn the corner and make a move for the better.

People in the know believe that since Foley is the executive chairman of the board with a number of "supervoting" shares to his name, the decision to sell the company is beyond his jurisdiction.

"It is not my vote. It is, however, the vote of the shareholders, and I'm confident a large percentage of the votes will be cast in favor of my leadership of the business, which is why I agreed to step into the business in the first place," said the new CEO.

Year-over-year, the company has lost almost 76% on the market and has an inventory which will be hard to clear given its high production rate and failing demand. The company has announced a new product in the form of a rowing boat which will do similar things as the bike but will focus on strength developing.

McCarthy is believed to be working on a complete overhaul of the company's pricing structure as of now.