The Peloton story: everything you need to know – The Verge

Peloton, stay in your lane

2026-04-17T09:04:23-04:00

People keep trying to make Peloton more than what it is, when the product itself is enough.

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The camera zooms in on two well-formed cheeks clad in white shorts. These buns of steel belong to one Hudson Williams, star of the steamy hockey romance Heated Rivalry. As the camera pans up, a bead of sweat drips down his chin toward his clavicle. Sweaty abs are shown. The music swells. Hollywood's mega-hunk of the moment is swaying his chiseled visage back and forth, semi-gyrating on… a Peloton treadmill. A $6,695 …

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Peloton lays off 11 percent of its staff just a few months after launching its AI hardware

2026-01-30T18:53:55-05:00

Peloton said on Friday that it's cutting around 11 percent of its staff, mostly impacting "engineers working on technology and enterprise-related efforts," reports Bloomberg.

Last August, Peloton laid off six percent of its workforce and told investors it would continue layoffs globally in 2026, in an attempt to cut at least $100 million of annual spending by the end of the fiscal year.

Peloton's latest strategy shift to reverse the effect of its pandemic-era boom stalling out has also brought new hardware with Peloton IQ AI features. The Cross Training Series that debuted last October includes a new Bike, Bike Plus, Tread, Tread Plus, …

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Peloton increases fees and introduces new hardware including a $6,695 treadmill

2025-10-01T09:08:49-04:00

The new Bike Plus will cost $2,695.

Peloton has been angling for a redemption arc ever since its status as a pandemic darling started faltering when the world reopened for business. It tried to steady the ship with a series of layoffs, a pivot to subscriptions, and a leadership shuffle. Now, Peloton's hoping to kick off a new era with the Cross Training Series, a total refresh of its product lineup consisting of a new Bike, Bike Plus, Tread, Tread Plus, and Row Plus.

"The impetus behind the Cross Training series is, 'Let's just give people one place to do all the strength and cardio workouts in one spot," says Nick Caldwell, Peloton's chief product officer. "We now make that …

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Peloton downplays tariffs and embraces AI

2025-05-08T10:01:27-04:00

Peloton said it's not sweating tariffs in its Q3 2025 earnings today, noting it is "predominantly a subscription business" while acknowledging that macroeconomic uncertainty could impact demand for its pricey bikes and treadmills.

"During the period of GDP decline between 2008 and 2009, external data showed that us spend[ing] on fitness continued to grow, and that implies the fitness industry has some resilience to external economic factors," Peloton CFO Liz Coddington said on its earnings call, while underscoring the company's main revenue comes from subscriptions and that it has a loyal subscriber base. "Or to put it more plainly, the da …

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Peloton’s new audio-based app is like an invisible strength coach

2024-12-04T15:25:34-05:00

The Strength Plus app isn’t Peloton’s first attempt at capitalizing on strength training. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peloton announced the launch of Strength Plus, a new standalone, audio-based strength training app. The app was introduced in a limited beta program earlier in September, but is now officially available.

The Strength Plus app allows users to generate custom workouts by choosing workout length, equipment, experience level, and which muscle groups they want to focus on. It also includes multi-week programs curated by Peloton's strength coaches, though workouts can be done at a user's own pace. Strength Plus includes audio cues and tips from instructors, as well as a library of instructional videos demonstrating exercises and equipment setup. …

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Peloton appoints Apple Fitness Plus cofounder as new CEO

2024-10-31T09:42:06-04:00

Peloton's got a new head honcho. The company announced that Ford executive Peter Stern will take over as CEO and President starting January 1st. Stern previously worked at Apple and Time Warner Cable.

"As a cofounder and driving force behind Apple Fitness Plus, Peter led his growth to millions of members, and is responsible for successfully scaling over a dozen other subscription services ranging from Ford BlueCruise to Apple iCloud to Time Warner Cable Home Security," said Karen Boone, Peloton's interim CEO, on today's Q1 2025 earnings call. "Importantly, Peter has also been a passionate member of the Peloton community since 2016."

In a Q …

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Peloton announces new round of layoffs as CEO quits

2024-05-02T07:13:12-04:00

Another dark day for Peloton. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Peloton's CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down after announcing yet another round of layoffs, this time affecting about 15 percent of its remaining workforce, or roughly 400 global team members. It's the fifth round of layoffs to hit the pandemic darling and comes after McCarthy said on its Q1 2023 earnings call that the company was done with layoffs and that the "ship was turning."

"Hard as the decision has been to make additional headcount cuts, Peloton simply had no other way to bring its spending in line with its revenue," said McCarthy in his outgoing message, noting that it's a crucial step as the company seeks to refinance its debt. …

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Peloton is not getting rid of Apple Watch GymKit support

2024-02-12T21:28:40-05:00

Update, Thursday, February 15th, 2024, 1:07PM ET: Now Peloton says it's heard the feedback "loud and clear" and has canceled its plan to drop GymKit support. The title of this post has been updated to reflect that the original article continues below.

In an email sent to users Monday evening, Peloton revealed that starting February 27th, it will start transitioning Apple Watch users from GymKit to Peloton One-Tap tracking.

GymKit integration was once marketed by Peloton as an exclusive perk of its more expensive Bike Plus, but it's become less of a draw in recent years. The company launched an Apple Watch integration in 2022 that brought A …

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Peloton’s oldest bike tablet will be cut off from classes in a few months

2023-12-20T12:14:55-05:00

Just like all gadgets, even tablets solely devoted to fitness will eventually meet their software demise. That time is rapidly approaching for Peloton's first-gen bike tablets, known as Quartz. Peloton sold these first-gen bikes between 2013 and 2016. The company already cut off software updates for the early touchscreens back in 2019. But now, as reported by Pelo Buddy, the hammer is coming down, and Peloton will completely cease support for the tablets in June 2024. If you don't make a move by then, you won't be able to access classes anymore, leaving "Just Workout" as the only feature that will still work.

So what's a budget-conscious Pe …

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Peloton’s app now pairs with third-party treadmills for some subscribers

2023-12-17T15:27:33-05:00

Peloton is opening up its app to third-party treadmills for running, walking, or Tread Bootcamp classes. Pelo Buddy spotted a new support page on Peloton's site announcing that the app can now record and display metrics on any treadmill that uses Bluetooth FTMS. The offer is only open to subscribers of the company's most expensive subscription workout plan, Peloton App Plus.

To pair, you'll start a Tread class in the Peloton app, then tap the "Connect a Bluetooth Device" option. Pick your treadmill from the list, and a green check mark lets you know when it's connected.

Peloton says users can check their incline, speed, pace, and distance …

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