The Rise and Fall of Peloton | Pedal On | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Peloton’s pandemic hype and sales have died down and now, the company must determine what’s next. Lauren Thomas of the Wall Street Journal talks to us about what it’ll take for Peloton to continue as a standalone company. Later, we’re talking to fitness creator Cassey Ho, who founded the YouTube channel Blogilates. She shares how she built an online fitness community and later created the activewear brand POPFLEX — and what it was like to have Taylor Swift wear one of her designs.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars.
0:10.0	I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, more than one million consumers purchased Peloton bikes.
0:37.2	After all, Peloton was the It workout. S&L even spoofed the
0:41.8	company's famously enthusiastic instructors in this sketch from 2021 featuring the Pelotant,
0:48.5	a bike with classes powered by negative reinforcement.
0:51.8	Let's give it up for Mike who's working out in his garage.
0:55.0	Oh, no, this is my living room.
0:58.0	What?
0:59.0	I feel mentally broken down, but hey, I can see my abs.
1:02.0	But now that folks have returned to in-person workouts,
1:05.0	the bike has become more of an expensive clothing rack for some.
1:10.0	With a hype dying down, Peloton is scrambling to find
1:13.1	their next big thing. Recently, they've introduced new features like AI-powered personalized coaching,
1:20.0	integrations with external fitness trackers like Apple Watch and Garmin, comfier bike seats,
1:25.6	and voice control.
1:29.6	But is that enough to keep them peddling?
1:35.0	Between its CEO shakeups and major layoffs, many on Wall Street are wondering whether the company will get acquired by a bigger fish. Think Nike or Apple.
1:40.1	Peloton's current CEO, Peter Stern, has shut down these whispers for now, but only time will tell.
1:46.9	Business reporter Lauren Thomas has had her eye on Peloton since its peak.
1:51.7	She covers mergers and acquisitions and shareholder activism for the Wall Street Journal.
1:56.0	Before that, she covered Peloton for CNBC, where she documented the company's rise and subsequent fall.
2:03.2	Today we're talking about what's next for Peloton and how they plan to grow beyond the bike.
	...

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