7 ms·

This was just the CEO pulling the rip-cord on his Golden Parachute while the company can still make the payout. He knew the company was screwed, and it's entir

This was just the CEO pulling the rip-cord on his Golden Parachute while the company can still make the payout. He knew the company was screwed, and it's entirely the fault of top leadership. they chose to make their own performance bonuses a priority over long-term business survival, by recklessly expanding during Covid; a strategy that literally everyone could have told them would not be sustainable.

tough 3y ago
Go big or go home Or go home with a big paycheck in this case
linuxftw 3y ago
I think the leadership has done an amazing job. They made something out of nothing. Selling exercise bikes for 100's of percent of markups, and then charging the clowns that buy them a subscription fee. > they chose to make their own performance bonuses a priority over long-term business survival, by recklessly expanding during Covid There was never going to be long term survival. Peloton was the latest 'as seen on TV' level of product, and once their 15 minutes of fame burns out, the name will be sold off to license cheap products.
- edgefield 3y ago
  As a peloton owner, I strongly disagree. I have a peloton and went from not working out regularly, despite many attempts and gym memberships, to working out 4x a week (45 min or longer), going on 3 years now. I lost 15 lbs and in the best shape of my life. A $1,500 bike + $49/month subscription fee is a small price to pay for dramatically improved health and well being.
  - gizmo 3y ago
    The median Peloton owner bought a $1500 clothes rack. Your experience -- while laudable -- isn't representative.
  - rubidium 3y ago
    Bluntly, this sounds exactly like a "as seen on tv" testimonial. No one denies the product was compelling / successful. It's just that fitness products are an incredibly fad-ish market. Something else will come along and be the new bright shiny thing.
    - edgefield 3y ago
      You can say what you want but from my vantage point there’s nothing “fad-ish” about the peloton. Do people buy it like the latest kitchen gizmo and then store it away and let it gather dust? Sure. But that’s not at all my experience. Note, before the peloton I bought a Concept 2 rower. I used it routinely for a few months, then periodically, and then not at all. I still have it and going to try to use it again in conjunction with the peloton rowing classes now that they’re available in the app.
      - brianwawok 3y ago
        What does fad mean to you? If usage of something new goes up, peaks, and then heads down to 1/2 or 1/4 of the previous peak, what would you call that?
        ghaff 3y ago
        Fad has this very negative connotation but certain types of activities do rise in popularity, stay popular for a bit, and then decline a long way. Inline skating/rollerblading in the US is a great example. It grew from nothing to be a super-popular recreational activity for a numbber of years, and now you rarely see someone on inline skates.
        brianwawok 3y ago
        Right, Inline skates is a fad. Doesn't mean it goes to 0, but it had a moment - and it is past.
        ghaff 3y ago
  - throwawayadvsec 3y ago
    What's the difference between a cheaper good bike and a mobile app?
    - edgefield 3y ago
      Better integration with the classes and metrics and the leaderboard. I use power zone classes only and the metrics are key for that.
      - o1y32 3y ago
        It the "better integration" worth the premium of $1000+ and a subscription fee? To many people, including rich & athletic people, that is a firm no, which is why the company is failing.
  - dougmwne 3y ago
    That is an infomercial script right there. Great that it worked for you, but most people don’t become health nuts after buying a Ronco or a bow flex. Plus, it’s actively unhelpful advice for the majority of people who could never afford such an expensive way to stay fit when it could be trivially replicated with a free Craigslist exercise bike and a phone playing YouTube.
    - edgefield 3y ago
      I don’t think the peloton is at all equivalent to the ronco(?) or bow flex. It’s an integrated experience with hardware, classes/instructors, and an active community.
      - registeredcorn 3y ago
        I've read some of the comments here and it sounds like people are being exceedingly unfair towards the position you presented. I'm not entirely sure why. Personally, I think the cost of the bike + the subscription is untenable, but I understand how it could benefit people who want that experience.
  - subpixel 3y ago
    Two things can be true at the same time: Peloton is a great product that customers love, and the true value of the company is a fraction of what was imagined just a few years ago.
  - uoaei 3y ago
    This equates to ~$90/mo gym membership with a one-time registration cost around $100, for scale. This is the going rate for most climbing/bouldering gyms with full freeweight sets, treadmills, spin bikes, showers, saunas, etc. I personally value cross-training and weightlifting because those are the ways to see real long-term benefits to your health. Bone density, testosterone, flexibility, good posture, will all pay dividends down the line. You can get cardio any number of ways, including commuting and running groceries by bike.
    - red-iron-pine 3y ago
      As mentioned elsewhere, this was basically what I ran into. Total cost of ownership for the bike was on par with a nice gym, and the gym offers spin classes... on top of weights, rowing machines, steam rooms, etc.
  - kumarvvr 3y ago
    The way I look at it, the same content and experience can be had by any normal bike and a bunch of Youtube videos. You were motivated, perhaps, because you spent an ungodly amount of money on a run of the mill exercise bike.
    - waboremo 3y ago
      Have you started biking to a bunch of youtube videos?
      - kumarvvr 3y ago
        Actually yes. But not biking videos, but full body workouts with weights. I have a few bookmarked videos that I follow and use them for exercising.
    - jstummbillig 3y ago
      Or maybe because of a decisive amount of extra convenience a good, at-home setup provides to some. Sure, we could all do fit without any trainers, groups, studios, videos or even any equipment – why maintain a bike when you can just run or walk quickly? – but for mysterious reasons, that's just not how all people and their motivation work. (Sidenote, from what I gleaned lately, and while I would never use this reasoning to claim a Peloton is remotely cheap, it does not even seem laughably expensive next to bikes in a comparable percentile).
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
    At the beginning of the pandemic (3 years ago) I took up running. I'm now running 3-4 times a week going on 3 years now. I was sold no perfect product but I was still able to pick it up and stick with it. Why? I personally think the pandemic was the perfect time to pick up a new habit and the enforced change in lifestyle lasted long enough that it stuck.
    - mensetmanusman 3y ago
      Some places are arguably worse for running due to smog (unless running with an N95). Biking indoors with clean air is a much better option during fire season.
      - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
        Well, sure, in some areas it might be the case (I've actually been running with a N95 the last week due to forest fire smoke here in Edmonton), but that wasn't really my point and the potential for smog doesn't make Peleton (as opposed to another stationary bike or treadmill) more appealing.
  - Aeolun 3y ago
    Maybe that happened because it was so expensive? If you’d bought a $200 exercise bike that was functionally the same, would you have achieved the same thing?
    - sco1 3y ago
      I've owned the bike for 3 years and IMO Peloton's value is the class content, not the device. I've mentioned it before on HN and having tried many services over the years, I don't think anyone but Apple has even come close to providing the same kind of consistent value for general fitness instruction, and they had Peloton's product to draw from when they created it. I don't think I'm alone in finding the task of designing workout plans challenging, and often demotivating. Obviously it's not the same as paying for coaching or personal training, but being able to open up the app and just have a workout ready to go is valuable to me. I understand some being miffed that the subscription cost is higher for those who own Peloton hardware, but the price point is still much lower than what I would be paying (and was paying) for local classes. I don't know if this is valuable enough to sustain the business, but I hope it is.
  - o1y32 3y ago
    "from not working out regularly... to working out 4x a week" I understand where you are from, and there is definitely a segment of people whose access to gym is hindered by other factors (convenience, time spent on transportation etc) and Peloton is a better solution for them, but I doubt that is representative of the general Peloton users. And even for that segment, there are alternatives that work well enough -- just get a bike trainer, and there are so many options to choose from. (I don't see myself ever getting a Peloton when I already have a bike) Not to mention that Peloton does not replace gym. For working out/losing weight etc sure, but you get a lot more different equipment and programs from a "real" gym.
  - hellweaver666 3y ago
    HOW MUCH? I heard about the fad, but holy crap thats a lot to spend on pedalling without going anywhere.
  - andrewmcwatters 3y ago
    You can lose 15 pounds in two months eating mostly whole, unprocessed foods. Spending over $3,000 over 3 years for what you can do in under three months is an example of American nutritional education.
    - steveBK123 3y ago
      Diet is more effective for losing weight than exercise, but exercise & general activity are going to keep you from having a lot of health issues in late middle age.
- mupuff1234 3y ago
  I don't agree, peloton is a great product. Would you say a similar thing about a high quality bike? But the monthly subscription fee is way too high considering the price of the bike.
  - edgefield 3y ago
    You’re paying the same or more for a regular gym membership. My wife pays $200/month+ for Pilates.
    - ghaff 3y ago
      Which requires going to a gym. Whether that's a feature or a bug depends on a lot of things.
    - system16 3y ago
      You have an infinitely greater number of options for strength and cardio training at a gym than just a stationary bike.
    - ilikecakeandpie 3y ago
      Yeah most of the replies here don't know what they're talking about. A gym membership at the YMCA here is $92/month and the spin class my girlfriend takes is about in line with the pilates price. The $50/month Peloton subscription with the purchase of bike hits breakeven after about a year or so
      - linuxftw 3y ago
        I pay $17/mo for my local gym, they have weights, machines, and cardio equipment. I paid around $900 for my actual bike. Exercise bikes have been overpriced for a long while, and Peloton moved that price point to the moon when they first came out. Around $2k depending on how early and what model you bought one. That's more than a riding lawn mower. You're trying to tell me that the material costs and complexity and warranty work on a Peloton costs more than a riding lawn mower? Come on.
- bluGill 3y ago
  I don't know, I think there is a long term market in social exercise at home that they can tap into and keep going. However it isn't nearly as large as their current market. Enough to be profitable by having a few trained staff (people with actual exercise degrees using the latest research to run a good class as opposed to your typical gym personal trainer who doesn't have formal training in that) so that a class is starting every 15 minutes. (and some classes can be re-runs so long as they don't fall into the trap of stale content because it is all reruns). However the above is enough to support a small company with about a dozen full-time staff who are doing well for themselves, and a few part time staff. That is one CEO who also does basic HR and a few other tasks, 2 IT support people, 6 personal trainers (some who always work nights/weekends), a few other staff because other functions are needed, and part time is seniors at the local college who are getting a relevant degree. Once in a while they will need to outsource design of a new bike as parts on the old model go obsolete, or some new software feature (every two years at most - partially so they still remember how to get this done). Nobody will get rich doing this, but all will have a nice middle class life. And of course all the venture capitalists who funded the wild ride up will be disappointed.
- steveBK123 3y ago
  I think there was no chance to survive at the scale they expanded to. Not an owner, but I've used one. Also - yes, the bike is expensive, but a comparable exercise bike is similar cost. Yes there are cheaper exercise bikes, they are not as well built generally. They actually lose money on the bikes but make it back on the subscription. For city people living in HCOL areas, Peloton is a steal compared to gym membership/class rates if you like spinning. Similar for some of the other workout-from-home services that expanded rapidly during COVID. The problem is, the TAM for that is not 330M Americans / 1B people worldwide. It's more like ~20M Americans / 50M worldwide, best case. I think its one of those NYC/SF bubble creature mind traps that actually - gyms don't cost $350/mo everywhere. My parents pay $99/year to use a gym and they share a membership, lol. So for a small subset of people $40/mo from home is a steal. For a lot of people it looks like a luxury. The COVID bump was always going to be temporary, but the genre in general makes some sense for WFH white collar people who don't want to get a HCOL area gym membership.
- 35997279 3y ago
  > There was never going to be long term survival. Yes. It’s an tablet on a bike connected to a VOD workout service. Apple was always just about to eat their lunch. The day they announced Fitness+ was probably the day everyone in the C-Suite started looking for the exit.
b3lvedere 3y ago
Amazing how little respect the leaders of a company seem to have about their workforce. It looks like leaders can never be honest towards their employees. "It is not easy to say goodbye to valued colleagues and friends, each of whom have made important contributions to helping build Peloton into the company it is today. Decisions like these were not taken lightly, and we will work hard to assist impacted teammates with their transitions." It was probably a lot easier than their valued golden parachute.
- the_snooze 3y ago
  >It looks like leaders can never be honest towards their employees. These aren't leaders. These are toddlers in authority positions.
  - b3lvedere 3y ago
    I have met great leaders, but most of them respected humans above money. I have also met terrible terrible leaders and managers. All of those respected (their bonus) money way way above anything else.
gizmo 3y ago
What are the long term prospects of a company like peloton? It's a bike + an iPad. Both components are commodities, and the price-insensitive segment of the market is too small to sustain a big business. It's easy to hate on management, but the business doesn't make sense and management can't fix that. Peleton was going to crash from the covid-fueled mania, and it was going to crash hard. Inevitable.
- ghaff 3y ago
  >+ an iPad With a monthly Apple Fitness subscription or equivalent.
eduction 3y ago
[CEO lays people off but does not resign] “You’re not taking responsibility!” [CEO lays people off and does resign] “You’re shirking responsibility in order to get your bonus!”
- SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
  IMO a CEO shouldn’t be getting a bonus at all if the company is doing mass layoffs.
  - brianwawok 3y ago
    Then don't take one when you make CEO.
    - SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
      I don’t have to be one to criticize CEO actions. Especially since I, a regular worker, am the one that will be most impacted by their idiocy.
    - b3lvedere 3y ago
      Deal. Make me a CEO with a nice monthly salary. I don't need bonuses or golden parachutes, just a very nice stable income for the work i will be doing.
- fatherzine 3y ago
  CEO lays people off, forfeits their bonus [because they failed their responsibility to the employees] and then perhaps also resigns [because they failed their responsibility to the shareholders]
  - lazide 3y ago
    Then CEO is broke - and people make fun of him for that. Leading based on other people’s complaint’s doesn’t work for anyone because people always have complaints no matter what.
ProjectArcturis 3y ago
Literally everyone except the people who inflated the stock price.

tough 3y ago

Go big or go home Or go home with a big paycheck in this case

linuxftw 3y ago

I think the leadership has done an amazing job. They made something out of nothing. Selling exercise bikes for 100's of percent of markups, and then charging the clowns that buy them a subscription fee. > they chose to make their own performance bonuses a priority over long-term business survival, by recklessly expanding during Covid There was never going to be long term survival. Peloton was the latest 'as seen on TV' level of product, and once their 15 minutes of fame burns out, the name will be sold off to license cheap products.

edgefield 3y ago
As a peloton owner, I strongly disagree. I have a peloton and went from not working out regularly, despite many attempts and gym memberships, to working out 4x a week (45 min or longer), going on 3 years now. I lost 15 lbs and in the best shape of my life. A $1,500 bike + $49/month subscription fee is a small price to pay for dramatically improved health and well being.
- gizmo 3y ago
  The median Peloton owner bought a $1500 clothes rack. Your experience -- while laudable -- isn't representative.
- rubidium 3y ago
  Bluntly, this sounds exactly like a "as seen on tv" testimonial. No one denies the product was compelling / successful. It's just that fitness products are an incredibly fad-ish market. Something else will come along and be the new bright shiny thing.
  - edgefield 3y ago
    You can say what you want but from my vantage point there’s nothing “fad-ish” about the peloton. Do people buy it like the latest kitchen gizmo and then store it away and let it gather dust? Sure. But that’s not at all my experience. Note, before the peloton I bought a Concept 2 rower. I used it routinely for a few months, then periodically, and then not at all. I still have it and going to try to use it again in conjunction with the peloton rowing classes now that they’re available in the app.
    - brianwawok 3y ago
      What does fad mean to you? If usage of something new goes up, peaks, and then heads down to 1/2 or 1/4 of the previous peak, what would you call that?
      - ghaff 3y ago
        Fad has this very negative connotation but certain types of activities do rise in popularity, stay popular for a bit, and then decline a long way. Inline skating/rollerblading in the US is a great example. It grew from nothing to be a super-popular recreational activity for a numbber of years, and now you rarely see someone on inline skates.
        brianwawok 3y ago
        Right, Inline skates is a fad. Doesn't mean it goes to 0, but it had a moment - and it is past.
        ghaff 3y ago
- throwawayadvsec 3y ago
  What's the difference between a cheaper good bike and a mobile app?
  - edgefield 3y ago
    Better integration with the classes and metrics and the leaderboard. I use power zone classes only and the metrics are key for that.
    - o1y32 3y ago
      It the "better integration" worth the premium of $1000+ and a subscription fee? To many people, including rich & athletic people, that is a firm no, which is why the company is failing.
- dougmwne 3y ago
  That is an infomercial script right there. Great that it worked for you, but most people don’t become health nuts after buying a Ronco or a bow flex. Plus, it’s actively unhelpful advice for the majority of people who could never afford such an expensive way to stay fit when it could be trivially replicated with a free Craigslist exercise bike and a phone playing YouTube.
  - edgefield 3y ago
    I don’t think the peloton is at all equivalent to the ronco(?) or bow flex. It’s an integrated experience with hardware, classes/instructors, and an active community.
    - registeredcorn 3y ago
      I've read some of the comments here and it sounds like people are being exceedingly unfair towards the position you presented. I'm not entirely sure why. Personally, I think the cost of the bike + the subscription is untenable, but I understand how it could benefit people who want that experience.
- subpixel 3y ago
  Two things can be true at the same time: Peloton is a great product that customers love, and the true value of the company is a fraction of what was imagined just a few years ago.
- uoaei 3y ago
  This equates to ~$90/mo gym membership with a one-time registration cost around $100, for scale. This is the going rate for most climbing/bouldering gyms with full freeweight sets, treadmills, spin bikes, showers, saunas, etc. I personally value cross-training and weightlifting because those are the ways to see real long-term benefits to your health. Bone density, testosterone, flexibility, good posture, will all pay dividends down the line. You can get cardio any number of ways, including commuting and running groceries by bike.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    As mentioned elsewhere, this was basically what I ran into. Total cost of ownership for the bike was on par with a nice gym, and the gym offers spin classes... on top of weights, rowing machines, steam rooms, etc.
- kumarvvr 3y ago
  The way I look at it, the same content and experience can be had by any normal bike and a bunch of Youtube videos. You were motivated, perhaps, because you spent an ungodly amount of money on a run of the mill exercise bike.
  - waboremo 3y ago
    Have you started biking to a bunch of youtube videos?
    - kumarvvr 3y ago
      Actually yes. But not biking videos, but full body workouts with weights. I have a few bookmarked videos that I follow and use them for exercising.
  - jstummbillig 3y ago
    Or maybe because of a decisive amount of extra convenience a good, at-home setup provides to some. Sure, we could all do fit without any trainers, groups, studios, videos or even any equipment – why maintain a bike when you can just run or walk quickly? – but for mysterious reasons, that's just not how all people and their motivation work. (Sidenote, from what I gleaned lately, and while I would never use this reasoning to claim a Peloton is remotely cheap, it does not even seem laughably expensive next to bikes in a comparable percentile).
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
  At the beginning of the pandemic (3 years ago) I took up running. I'm now running 3-4 times a week going on 3 years now. I was sold no perfect product but I was still able to pick it up and stick with it. Why? I personally think the pandemic was the perfect time to pick up a new habit and the enforced change in lifestyle lasted long enough that it stuck.
  - mensetmanusman 3y ago
    Some places are arguably worse for running due to smog (unless running with an N95). Biking indoors with clean air is a much better option during fire season.
    - SketchySeaBeast 3y ago
      Well, sure, in some areas it might be the case (I've actually been running with a N95 the last week due to forest fire smoke here in Edmonton), but that wasn't really my point and the potential for smog doesn't make Peleton (as opposed to another stationary bike or treadmill) more appealing.
- Aeolun 3y ago
  Maybe that happened because it was so expensive? If you’d bought a $200 exercise bike that was functionally the same, would you have achieved the same thing?
  - sco1 3y ago
    I've owned the bike for 3 years and IMO Peloton's value is the class content, not the device. I've mentioned it before on HN and having tried many services over the years, I don't think anyone but Apple has even come close to providing the same kind of consistent value for general fitness instruction, and they had Peloton's product to draw from when they created it. I don't think I'm alone in finding the task of designing workout plans challenging, and often demotivating. Obviously it's not the same as paying for coaching or personal training, but being able to open up the app and just have a workout ready to go is valuable to me. I understand some being miffed that the subscription cost is higher for those who own Peloton hardware, but the price point is still much lower than what I would be paying (and was paying) for local classes. I don't know if this is valuable enough to sustain the business, but I hope it is.
- o1y32 3y ago
  "from not working out regularly... to working out 4x a week" I understand where you are from, and there is definitely a segment of people whose access to gym is hindered by other factors (convenience, time spent on transportation etc) and Peloton is a better solution for them, but I doubt that is representative of the general Peloton users. And even for that segment, there are alternatives that work well enough -- just get a bike trainer, and there are so many options to choose from. (I don't see myself ever getting a Peloton when I already have a bike) Not to mention that Peloton does not replace gym. For working out/losing weight etc sure, but you get a lot more different equipment and programs from a "real" gym.
- hellweaver666 3y ago
  HOW MUCH? I heard about the fad, but holy crap thats a lot to spend on pedalling without going anywhere.
- andrewmcwatters 3y ago
  You can lose 15 pounds in two months eating mostly whole, unprocessed foods. Spending over $3,000 over 3 years for what you can do in under three months is an example of American nutritional education.
  - steveBK123 3y ago
    Diet is more effective for losing weight than exercise, but exercise & general activity are going to keep you from having a lot of health issues in late middle age.
mupuff1234 3y ago
I don't agree, peloton is a great product. Would you say a similar thing about a high quality bike? But the monthly subscription fee is way too high considering the price of the bike.
- edgefield 3y ago
  You’re paying the same or more for a regular gym membership. My wife pays $200/month+ for Pilates.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    Which requires going to a gym. Whether that's a feature or a bug depends on a lot of things.
  - system16 3y ago
    You have an infinitely greater number of options for strength and cardio training at a gym than just a stationary bike.
  - ilikecakeandpie 3y ago
    Yeah most of the replies here don't know what they're talking about. A gym membership at the YMCA here is $92/month and the spin class my girlfriend takes is about in line with the pilates price. The $50/month Peloton subscription with the purchase of bike hits breakeven after about a year or so
    - linuxftw 3y ago
      I pay $17/mo for my local gym, they have weights, machines, and cardio equipment. I paid around $900 for my actual bike. Exercise bikes have been overpriced for a long while, and Peloton moved that price point to the moon when they first came out. Around $2k depending on how early and what model you bought one. That's more than a riding lawn mower. You're trying to tell me that the material costs and complexity and warranty work on a Peloton costs more than a riding lawn mower? Come on.
bluGill 3y ago
I don't know, I think there is a long term market in social exercise at home that they can tap into and keep going. However it isn't nearly as large as their current market. Enough to be profitable by having a few trained staff (people with actual exercise degrees using the latest research to run a good class as opposed to your typical gym personal trainer who doesn't have formal training in that) so that a class is starting every 15 minutes. (and some classes can be re-runs so long as they don't fall into the trap of stale content because it is all reruns). However the above is enough to support a small company with about a dozen full-time staff who are doing well for themselves, and a few part time staff. That is one CEO who also does basic HR and a few other tasks, 2 IT support people, 6 personal trainers (some who always work nights/weekends), a few other staff because other functions are needed, and part time is seniors at the local college who are getting a relevant degree. Once in a while they will need to outsource design of a new bike as parts on the old model go obsolete, or some new software feature (every two years at most - partially so they still remember how to get this done). Nobody will get rich doing this, but all will have a nice middle class life. And of course all the venture capitalists who funded the wild ride up will be disappointed.
steveBK123 3y ago
I think there was no chance to survive at the scale they expanded to. Not an owner, but I've used one. Also - yes, the bike is expensive, but a comparable exercise bike is similar cost. Yes there are cheaper exercise bikes, they are not as well built generally. They actually lose money on the bikes but make it back on the subscription. For city people living in HCOL areas, Peloton is a steal compared to gym membership/class rates if you like spinning. Similar for some of the other workout-from-home services that expanded rapidly during COVID. The problem is, the TAM for that is not 330M Americans / 1B people worldwide. It's more like ~20M Americans / 50M worldwide, best case. I think its one of those NYC/SF bubble creature mind traps that actually - gyms don't cost $350/mo everywhere. My parents pay $99/year to use a gym and they share a membership, lol. So for a small subset of people $40/mo from home is a steal. For a lot of people it looks like a luxury. The COVID bump was always going to be temporary, but the genre in general makes some sense for WFH white collar people who don't want to get a HCOL area gym membership.
35997279 3y ago
> There was never going to be long term survival. Yes. It’s an tablet on a bike connected to a VOD workout service. Apple was always just about to eat their lunch. The day they announced Fitness+ was probably the day everyone in the C-Suite started looking for the exit.

b3lvedere 3y ago

Amazing how little respect the leaders of a company seem to have about their workforce. It looks like leaders can never be honest towards their employees. "It is not easy to say goodbye to valued colleagues and friends, each of whom have made important contributions to helping build Peloton into the company it is today. Decisions like these were not taken lightly, and we will work hard to assist impacted teammates with their transitions." It was probably a lot easier than their valued golden parachute.

the_snooze 3y ago
>It looks like leaders can never be honest towards their employees. These aren't leaders. These are toddlers in authority positions.
- b3lvedere 3y ago
  I have met great leaders, but most of them respected humans above money. I have also met terrible terrible leaders and managers. All of those respected (their bonus) money way way above anything else.

gizmo 3y ago

What are the long term prospects of a company like peloton? It's a bike + an iPad. Both components are commodities, and the price-insensitive segment of the market is too small to sustain a big business. It's easy to hate on management, but the business doesn't make sense and management can't fix that. Peleton was going to crash from the covid-fueled mania, and it was going to crash hard. Inevitable.

ghaff 3y ago
>+ an iPad With a monthly Apple Fitness subscription or equivalent.

eduction 3y ago

[CEO lays people off but does not resign] “You’re not taking responsibility!” [CEO lays people off and does resign] “You’re shirking responsibility in order to get your bonus!”

SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
IMO a CEO shouldn’t be getting a bonus at all if the company is doing mass layoffs.
- brianwawok 3y ago
  Then don't take one when you make CEO.
  - SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
    I don’t have to be one to criticize CEO actions. Especially since I, a regular worker, am the one that will be most impacted by their idiocy.
  - b3lvedere 3y ago
    Deal. Make me a CEO with a nice monthly salary. I don't need bonuses or golden parachutes, just a very nice stable income for the work i will be doing.
fatherzine 3y ago
CEO lays people off, forfeits their bonus [because they failed their responsibility to the employees] and then perhaps also resigns [because they failed their responsibility to the shareholders]
- lazide 3y ago
  Then CEO is broke - and people make fun of him for that. Leading based on other people’s complaint’s doesn’t work for anyone because people always have complaints no matter what.

ProjectArcturis 3y ago

Literally everyone except the people who inflated the stock price.