Peloton Co-Founder John Foley is out in leadership shakeup

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Peloton Co-Founder John Foley is stepping away from the company he founded.

The embattled founder will leave the company's board of directors, Peloton stated Monday. The decision comes months after Peloton hired former Spotify exec Barry McCarthy as CEO.

"The company has accepted the resignations of John Foley as Executive Chair and Hisao Kushi as Chief Legal Officer, effective September 12, 2022 and October 3, 2022, respectively," a press release stated.

Kushi, also a co-founder, will be replaced by Tammy Albarrán, who most recently served as Uber's chief deputy general counsel and deputy corporate secretary.

A source told Yahoo Finance that Foley — who along with his wife and other insiders controls close to 60% of Peloton's voting shares — may sell his stake in the company after a cooling-off period.

John Foley, co-founder and CEO of Peloton Interactive, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
John Foley, co-founder and CEO of Peloton Interactive, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 7, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (Brendan McDermid / reuters)

"As I reflect on the journey Peloton has been on since we founded it, I am so proud of what we have built together," Foley stated. "From day one, the incredible talent we've had on our team and the dedication, hard work, and creativity of every Peloton employee are what got us to where we are today. We founded the company because we wanted to make fitness and wellness convenient, fun, and effective. Because of the work of thousands of people, we've done that."

Peloton was founded in 2012 after Foley, a cycle enthusiast, raised over $300,000 in capital to get his exercise startup off the ground. He co-founded the athletic equipment company alongside Graham Stanton, Kushi, Yony Feng, and Tom Cortese. The company IPO'd in September 2019.

Peloton stock, once a pandemic success story, is near all-time lows. Last year, the company temporarily halted production of its at-home fitness products as it looked to cut costs amid a "significant reduction" in consumer demand. Peloton told employees last month it was cutting 800 jobs, closing retail stores, and raising prices.

Peloton confirmed in July that it would be outsourcing production of its bikes and treadmills to a third party, and last month the company announced another major strategy shift as it began to sell select equipment and apparel through Amazon.

This is breaking news and the post may be updated.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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