Peloton and the Kiss(es) of Death

A Case for "Buy & Continuously Verify" > "Buy & Hold"

As I perused the headlines yesterday, I came across a CNBC article that suggested Peloton PTON 0.00%↑ , the connected fitness brainchild of John Foley, would be hiring McKinsey to “review its cost structure and potentially eliminate some jobs”. I felt the need to write something down, so here we go. Ever heard of the “kiss of death”? The term has many meanings, but in the Mafia, when a caporegime (ranking member in a crime family) kisses you square on the lips, it signifies that the unfortunate recipient of said kiss has been marked for death.

Fans of ‘The Godfather Part 2’ Will Understand

Queue McKinsey & Co, coming in to clean up. Whilst Foley is not likely to be sleeping with fishes anytime soon, the CNBC report suggests that 12% of Peloton’s physical store count might be on the chopping board (along with several employees) and that “Morale is at an all-time low”. This no doubt has a great deal to do with the fumblings of the executive suite of late and the romping that the company’s share pr…