Blackwells Capital, an activist investor that owns less than 5% of Peloton, says it has “serious concerns” about its performance and is asking its board to fire Foley immediately and explore a sale.
Blackwells Chief Investment Officer Jason Aintabi said the company is currently “in worse shape today than it was before the pandemic, with high fixed costs, excessive inventory, a listless strategy, discouraged employees and thousands of disgruntled shareholders”.
“We believe that no counsel exercising reasonable judgment could leave Mr. Foley in charge of Peloton,” Aintabi wrote in the letter. Peloton has “become too big, too complex and too damaged for Mr. Foley to lead”, adding that Foley “should have enough self-awareness and enough self-interest to resign as director”.
A sale could help Peloton, Aintabi argued, explaining that a stand-alone company would not be “able to fully exploit the opportunities that its assets and brand enable”.
Many Wall Street analysts soured on the company. While 15 still have “buy” ratings on the stock, fourteen have a lukewarm “hold” on Peloton and two even have “sell” recommendations.
— Hey, Peloton owners: are you still using your bike or tread? Tell us why or why not. And if the answer is no, do you plan to sell it? Please email your response to [email protected]
