So who should buy Peloton?
Good morning! Do you want to buy Peloton? Well then, you’d better get in line behind some very attractive suitors. I’m David Pierce, and the only kind of workout I truly enjoy is boxing in Supernatural. VR workouts for the win.
For sale: One Peloton
Can I interest you in a Peloton? It’s in fairly rough shape, but still more or less does the job. It’ll cost you, let’s say, $10 billion or so. Plus delivery fees.
Rumors are swirling about Peloton’s future. The company's stock is down more than 80% over the last year, it has run into a series of problems with its products, and it seems to be a company in disarray. Amazon and Nike are both reportedly interested in acquiring the company, and a number of analysts and experts think Apple should swoop in and do it.
Is Peloton actually for sale? It's starting to look like it: CEO John Foley is planning to step down, The Wall Street Journal reported, to be replaced by former Spotify and Netflix exec Barry McCarthy. The company is also reportedly undergoing some restructuring on the board, and planning to lay off about 20% of staff.
- It was a $50 billion company a couple of years ago, and its market cap has dropped to about $7.5 billion. And that’s after a big jump that came from the acquisition rumors.
- Blackwells Capital, a large shareholder in Peloton, sent the company a scathing letter a couple of weeks ago detailing what the firm sees as Peloton’s major recent missteps. “With the stock now trading below the IPO price,” Blackwells wrote, “and down more than 80% from its high, it is clear that the Company, the executives and the Board have squandered this opportunity.”
Peloton looks like a distressed asset with a lot of potential. It makes a good product, has a thriving community and seems to offer something a number of people want and like. It’s just not managing the system very well.
So what would its three most-discussed suitors get for their purchase?
- Amazon would get a flagship product for its growing health ecosystem, which currently includes products like the Halo wristband and projects like Amazon Care, its telehealth system. A Peloton subscription could also be a benefit for Prime subscribers, even the ones who don’t own a bike or treadmill. Meanwhile, Amazon would give Peloton a lot of capital and a lot of logistical knowhow — two things it seems to be lacking right now.
- Apple could use Peloton as a selling point for the Apple Watch and Fitness. It would also get lots of data for Apple Health and its other health initiatives. In return, Peloton gets its bikes and treadmills in prominent places in one of the best retail ecosystems in the world, access to the industry’s best supply chain and all the data-privacy features Apple’s been building in recent years.
- Nike would finally have the kind of hardware prowess it has repeatedly tried and failed to build internally. (Remember the FuelBand?) Peloton products could make the Nike Training Club ecosystem more useful and powerful, too. Nike, on the other hand, brings access to sponsored athletes, its legendary marketing machine and high-end fitness brand. Nike could help Peloton go from “bike company” to lifestyle brand, which it clearly wants to be.
Peloton may also be … a metaverse company. Blackwells seemed to think so, and it’s not a crazy idea. You could make the case that Peloton is, in some ways, ahead of the curve: It uses a combination of hardware and software to build experiences that are both personalized and collaborative. Add a camera into the mix — like the one Peloton is already working on — and give users headsets, and every rider could be a digital avatar in a virtual Peloton studio.
But does anybody need what Peloton does well? That’s the real question. Peloton may have been early to the connected fitness game, and remains the industry’s biggest name, but competitors are hitting it from all sides. Tonal, Hydrow and others are building their own in-home exercise systems, while Apple, Nike and others are building their own libraries of exercise content. Meanwhile, people are going back to the gym, and some gyms are investing in their own apps and at-home workout experiences. There’s not much about Peloton that is utterly unique anymore — unless you count Cody, anyway.
- The question for Amazon, Apple, Nike and others will be whether they feel they can beat Peloton at its own game, or if it’s worth $10 billion or so to take a shortcut to the top of the market. If Peloton can turn its fortunes around, it might even have a chance to compete on its own. But it won’t have that chance for long.
On the calendar
The changing role of the CIO
Join Tom Krazit at 10 a.m. today as he and a panel of experts explore the next evolution of the CIO within modern enterprises. RSVP here.
A MESSAGE FROM SAMBA TV

Samba TV operates the world’s largest independent source of first party connected TV data helping brands, agencies and content owners to plan, buy and measure all in one place. The State of Viewership report offers the industry’s most accurate insights into television viewing and advertising engagement. Download the report at www.samba.tv
People are talking
Rumble said it would welcome Joe Rogan with open arms and a lot of dough:
- “How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years?”
The Super Bowl and other sports deals are a key branding exercise for crypto, FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried said:
- “It’s going to impact how we’re thought about and framed for a long time."
Young people should take control of their social media, Frances Haugen said:
- “There is an opportunity for young people to come in and say, ‘I don’t accept, anymore, the impact that Facebook is having on my community.’”
Making moves
Peter Thiel is leaving Meta’s board. Thiel, one of Meta’s first big investors, has been on the board for over 15 years.
Karyn Smith is Snyk’s new chief legal officer. She was previously Twilio’s legal chief.
Jeremy Bird was promoted to Lyft’s chief policy officer. He was most recently the company’s VP and deputy chief policy officer.
Robert Lopez joined Thumbtack as VP of Recruiting. Lopez has led talent acquisition and HR at companies including Wayfair and Chewy.
The Ethereum Name Service DAO fired Brantly Millegan, its director of operations, over derogatory tweets about the LGBTQ community from 2016. True Names Limited also ended his contract.
Bumble bought Fruitz, a French dating app, for an undisclosed amount. It’s Bumble’s first acquisition.
Apple bought AI Music, sources told Bloomberg. The startup uses AI to curate different soundtracks.
Google introduced the Campaign Security Project, a program that works with political organizations to educate election workers on online security.
In other news
Nvidia’s Arm deal is dead. The collapse follows pressure from both regulators and companies including Microsoft, Qualcomm and Google. Arm now plans to go public sometime in the next 12 months or so. Rene Haas is also the company's new CEO, taking over from Simon Segars.
The SEC subpoenaed Teslaover Musk’s tweet in 2018 that said he had the money secured to take Tesla private.
The IRS won’t use ID.me anymore. Privacy advocates and lawmakers had criticized using the facial-recognition company’s software, citing security concerns.
TikTok is testing a rating system on videos. It will use similar ratings to those used for movies, but instead of showing the ratings to users, the system will be used to filter age-appropriate content to users.
Amazon is bumping its maximum base pay for corporate workers. It jumped from $160,000 to $350,000, as Amazon looks to keep top talent away from competitors.
“The Dropout” trailer just dropped. This is the one with Amanda Seyfried playing Elizabeth Holmes; it premieres March 3.
The metaverse isn’t designed for kids, but what if they use it anyway? Many people have complained that children are using Horizon Worlds, raising serious questions about the potential for sexual predators on the platform.
Tesla bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin in 2021 and held almost $2 billion of the cryptocurrency at the end of the year.
What to do when your job candidate is fake
By now you’ve probably read the story on Ask A Manager, where the new employee who showed up wasn’t the same guy who everyone talked to during the interview process. Thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime workplace horror story? Turns out it happens all the time.
Protocol’s Lizzy Lawrence talked with Nick Shah, the president of an IT staffing company, who said that it’s been happening in IT for a while: During video interviews, candidates were being fed answers by someone else, a la Cyrano de Bergerac. Shah offered some tips for making sure it doesn’t happen at your company: Be transparent and up-front about how there’s a zero-tolerance policy for lying, and, perhaps more importantly, don’t let any interviewees wear headphones during the interview.
A MESSAGE FROM SAMBA TV

Samba TV operates the world’s largest independent source of first party connected TV data helping brands, agencies and content owners to plan, buy and measure all in one place. The State of Viewership report offers the industry’s most accurate insights into television viewing and advertising engagement. Download the report at www.samba.tv
Thoughts, questions, tips? Send them to sourcecode@protocol.com, or our tips line, tips@protocol.com. Enjoy your day, see you tomorrow.
Recent Issues
The best of Protocol
December 02, 2022
The confessions of SBF
December 01, 2022
Elon Musk vs. the App Store
November 30, 2022
Here comes the crypto contagion
November 29, 2022
Your holiday book list
November 28, 2022
A tale of two FTXs
November 23, 2022
See more
To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. If you continue browsing. you accept our use of cookies. You can review our privacy policy to find out more about the cookies we use.