BONUS: Jason Kelly on Peloton and Their Wild Ride

Find this episode with Jason Kelly on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you enjoyed our conversation, you know what to do – rate and review!

Welcome to a special bonus episode of #WeGotGoals, a podcast from aSweatLife.com. I’m Kristen Geil, and as Michael Scott might say, my, how the turn tables. When I spoke to Jason Kelly of Bloomberg about the business of fitness in early February, we lovingly gushed about Peloton as the pandemic darling of at-home fitness. We both agreed that even though they’d slowed their growth and made some missteps lately, the concept of Peloton and the engagement their audience has with the bike and the classes is still really sound. The market, we surmised, was still trying to figure out how much the company was actually worth. 

A few days later, I bounced off on vacation and almost immediately, the Peloton news began to drop. 2800 layoffs. The plans for an Ohio factory, scrapped. John Foley out as CEO, Barry McCarthy in. To top it all off, a scathing PowerPoint presentation made public by Blackwells Capital urging Peloton to sell. 

The question was on everyone’s mind: is this spelling doom for Peloton?

Realizing that our original conversation was quickly outdated, Jason was nice enough to come back on the podcast for a special bonus episode. In this one, we talk exclusively about the Peloton rollercoaster, whether that’s a sign of real trouble for the at-home fitness industry, a potential Peloton sale, the continued saga of the mysterious Peloton Rower, and why we still believe in the brand. There’s a lot to talk about, and we do our best to cover it all.

Links: 

Podcast

About Kristen Geil

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Kristen moved to Chicago in 2011 and received her MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse from DePaul while trying to maintain her southern accent. Kristen grew up playing sports, and since moving to Chicago, she’s fallen in love with the lakefront running path and the lively group fitness scene. Now, as a currently retired marathoner and sweat junkie, you can usually find her trying new workouts around the city and meticulously crafting Instagram-friendly smoothie bowls. Kristen came on to A Sweat Life full-time in 2018 as Editor-in-Chief, and she spends her days managing writers, building content strategy, and fighting for the Oxford comma.