Peloton was one of the hottest commodities on the market during the pandemic. But as the dangers of COVID-19 subsided, so too did the stock of the fitness equipment company—and its former billionaire CEO John Foley says his wealth got wiped out in the process.
“You know, at one point I had a lot of money on paper,” Foley, who cofounded Peloton in 2012 and was at its helm for a decade, told the New York Post.
“Not actually [in the bank], unfortunately. I’ve lost all my money. I’ve had to sell almost everything in my life.”
When demand for at-home workouts surged during the early days of COVID-19, Peloton sales surged by 250%, stock rose by more than 400% and Foley became a billionaire seemingly overnight.
But the company overestimated demand as pandemic restrictions lifted and people started exercising outside again.
By November 2021, Peloton stock had plummeted and Foley had lost his newly minted 10-figure status.
Then, in December 2021, the premiere episode of the “Sex and the City” reboot “And Just Like That … ” killed off one of its main characters, Mr. Big, who suffered a heart attack … while riding a Peloton.
“We were coming out of Covid. The stock was getting crushed. And then the Mr. Big thing happens … it was brutal,” he recalled. “All of a sudden, we were just being trolled … everything was collapsing.”
Once worth a staggering $50 billion, the New York-based company was only just holding onto its unicorn status when Foley stepped down as CEO in February 2022. Foley was once worth $1.9 billion, according to Bloomberg, but left the company with a net worth of $225 million.
The company has since cycled through another CEO, Barry McCarthy, laid off thousands of employees, hiked prices, and announced the closure of retail stores to tackle its post-pandemic slump in demand.
Its market cap is still a shadow of what it once was, currently standing at $1.8 billion.
Fortune has reached out to Foley for comment.
Peloton’s stock bloodbath killed more than Foley’s billionaire status
It’s not just Foley’s billionaire status (and a career at the company he created) that was killed by Peloton’s stock price bloodbath.
The ex-Peloton chief was forced to downsize twice—including selling a $55 million East Hampton waterfront home and uprooting his family.
“My family took it well,” the 53-year-old told NY Post. “My wife’s super supportive. My kids are probably better for it, if we’re keeping it real.”
Though Foley has lost much of his fortune, the ordeal has not extinguished his ambition.
Within a year of resigning from the top job at Peloton, he had raised $25 million for his new venture, a direct-to-consumer rug company called Ernesta.
Now, he believes the company can make as much as $500 million in free cash flow by 2030.
“I’m working hard so that I can try to make money again … because I don’t have much left,” Foley concluded. “And so I’m hungry and humble.”
‘None of it’s real’
As Foley’s experience illustrates, reaching billionaire status can be pretty meaningless if that wealth is on paper and tied up in stock that can’t easily be sold.
After being named Britain’s youngest billionaire, Gymshark founder and CEO Ben Francis said “none of it is real,” adding that his wealth is “all on paper” and tied to assets that could fluctuate in value.
“It could double, it could [halve],” the millennial entrepreneur added. “That’s why I think it’s important that no individual should ever pin their self-worth on things like wealth, net worth, or anything financial.”
It’s why defining your success by your net worth is “a wildly unproductive way to live” in his eyes.
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Orianna Rosa Royle
