Peloton CEO John Foley Being Removed After Primary Investor Claims $40 Billion Lost

LAKELAND, FL — All 58 employees at Lakeland's Peloton facility received notices Tuesday that their jobs are ending at the exercise bike manufacturing company as its Polk County location is permanently closing.

The notification extends beyond Lakeland workers to 2,800 employees nationwide being laid off as CEO John Foley is being removed during the corporate overhaul after a year of weak stocks compared to 2020. According to the Wall Street Journal, Peloton's share price dropped about 75 percent since a year ago.

Peloton thrived as a successful business at the beginning of the pandemic when gyms were shut down and people turned to alternative exercise working out at home. During 2020, Peloton's stock price rose more than 600 percent, Wall Street reported.

As people across the world began to return to some sort of normalcy in 2021 by going back to pre-pandemic workouts at gyms, the demand for in-home fitness dropped.

The Lakeland facility received the following email Tuesday from Tallahassee:

Multiple news outlets have reported that Apple, Nike and Amazon have been considering to join forces with Peloton as digital fitness is ramping up for these companies. Peloton's stocks increased by 17 percent Monday after its future possibilities became public.

The removal of Foley followed a letter sent by a Peloton primary investor, Blackwells Capital LLC, to the the board of directors expressing concerns of Foley's leadership. The letter pointed out that the shareholders have lost $40 billion in the last year while Foley has reaped more than $115 million selling stocks regularly.

Some Disappointments In Foley Blackwell Pointed Out In Letter Are Listed Below

• Upending the product roadmap he himself authored, delaying rollouts and missing deadlines;
• Being initially reluctant to work with the Consumer Product Safety Commission despite selling a product that injured at least 29 children;
• Demonstrating a repeated inability to forecast consumer demand, churn, and product returns – to the point of removing related metrics from the Company’s public guidance;
• Committing to a 300,000 square foot, 20-year lease for office space in New York City, the most expensive office and labor market in the country, seemingly because he enjoys living there (and owns a newly-acquired $55 million vacation home nearby).

To read the full letter published by Business Wire, click here.