What happened
Shares of Peloton Interactive (PTON 5.42%) stumbled on Monday after the company's new CEO quashed the idea the connected fitness equipment maker would be sold anytime soon.
Telling The Financial Times he was moving from California to New York to helm the company, former Netflix and Spotify Technology executive Barry McCarthy said, "There are lots of other things I could be doing with my time that are quite lucrative than hanging out with a business that's about to be sold."
Shares of Peloton were down 6.6% at 2:35 p.m. ET
Image source: Peloton Interactive.
So what
The connected fitness guru's stock rallied last week amid wild speculation by Wall Street analysts that after yet another debacle of a quarter and a deeply depressed share price, companies like Amazon, Apple, or Nike might be interested in buying the luxury fitness brand.
Despite there not being any evidence those companies have even thought of a buyout, the market sent Peloton's stock soaring 36% higher last week. While a corporate suite shake-up also played a role in the higher bidding, the potential for a buyout was what grabbed the headlines.
Now what
Even if the companies were interested in Peloton, there was little chance a sale was going to happen. Company founder John Foley, who stepped down as CEO to take up the role of executive chairman, owns a supermajority of Peloton's voting stock, some 42% of the total shares.
Because those shares have a 20-to-1 voting power over Peloton's regular stock, there's no way the company could be sold unless Foley were on board, and he's given no indication he was agreeable to the idea.
