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.
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…