Peloton Picks a New CEO as It Prepares for Layoffs

Peloton has refreshed its leadership structure by naming former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy as its new President and CEO.

He replaces former chief executive, Peloton co-founder John Foley, who has transitioned to become the company's Executive Chair, and former President William Lynch, who has become a Non-Executive Director on the company's board.

As part of its leadership refresh, Peloton also revealed that longtime board member Erik Blachford will step down from his role. At the same time, LevaData Chairman Angel L. Mendez and former Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall will be added to the company's board. The duo brings decades of supply chain management and digital marketing expertise to help guide the company's turnaround.

McCarthy, who will also take a seat on the fitness technology company's board, is expected to help Peloton right the ship after a rough 2021 that ended with the company freezing production of its core indoor bike and treadmill products.

The change comes just weeks after activist investor Blackwells Capital called on Peloton to fire Foley and sell the company. Despite today's change, Blackwells maintains that Foley should leave the company entirely rather than become Executive Chair.

McCarthy brings decades of tech leadership experience and most recently spent five years as the CFO of Spotify, leaving his post at the music streaming giant in January 2020. Before that, he was the COO of doomed digital-payments startup Clinkle and spent 11 years as the finance chief at Netflix. He also served as a consultant at Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) and held positions on the boards of Pandora, Wealthfront, Nature Box, Eventbrite, Rent the Runway, Chegg and Instacart.

In a press release, Lead Independent Director Karen Boone stated, "We all agree that Barry is uniquely suited to lead Peloton into its next chapter and that this leadership transition will best position Peloton for sustainable growth, profitability, and long-term success."

Foley added that the company's new CEO is "not only recognized as an expert in running subscription business models and helping category-leading digital streaming companies flourish, but he has also had tremendous success in partnering with founder CEOs at other brands."

Moving forward, McCarthy will oversee Peloton's drastic plans to reduce costs by cutting 2,800 global positions, including a 20% reduction in corporate employees.

The struggling company has also decided to pull the plug on its first dedicated U.S.-based factory and logistics facility, which was under construction in Ohio and due to be completed in 2023. The decision is part of a larger cost-saving plan to reduce its owned and operated warehousing and delivery footprint in favor of scaling third-party relationships.