Peloton’s Demise is a Symbol of Hope

People are ready to leave the stationary life behind.

Peloton’s sales are way down, and it’s stock is cratering; the company lost $10 billion in market value after its last earnings report. Peloton members are clocking 20% fewer workouts, and agents say that buyers are no longer asking about “Peloton rooms.” This is all great news for humanity.

To explain: Peloton was one of the big winners of the pandemic, adding close to a million new members as people spent big on home enhancements to ride out the apocalypse. But the post-Delta-variant re-reopening of the vaccinated world has radically altered the consumer preferences set in motion by last year’s lockdowns. People want to be outside, people want to be with other people, and they’re tired of pedaling-in-place.

Since there’s apparently not going to be any official end to the endless pandemic, we have to watch for signs that it might actually be over. One very healthy signal is that Planet Fitness’ stock is rising almost exactly as fast as Peloton’s is dropping; when people are ready to be in a room full of sweaty strangers, breathing heavily, we might have finally made it to the other side.

What’s the upshot? Mindsets may be changing more broadly as the pandemic-induced obsession with home boomerangs toward a massive, pent-up demand for shared experiences outside of the house.

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