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Peloton S-1

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111–120 of 212 posts

Re: Peloton S-1

#111
post #18

It really makes we wonder how we could be on the verge of a recession when companies like this become successful? Maybe I'm just too cheap to ever buy something like this but it feels like a mass marketed luxury good that requires a decent level of consumer confidence to have succeeded.

They became successful in the bull market. Markets and debt cycles don't act like sine waves. They build up to a peak, and then they fall dramatically, then they build up again, and they fall.

Re: Peloton S-1

#112
Am I doing correct math that they spent about $1200 per new subscription? $324m sales & marketing / (511k - 246k) new members in 2019 = ~$1222.

$915000000 revenue / 1800 full-time employees = ~$500k revenue per employee, though.

Re: Peloton S-1

#113
post #18

It really makes we wonder how we could be on the verge of a recession when companies like this become successful? Maybe I'm just too cheap to ever buy something like this but it feels like a mass marketed luxury good that requires a decent level of consumer confidence to have succeeded.

That's exactly why bubbles form and lead to economic cycles: people get too confident and overextend themselves.

In this particular cycle, more companies seem to be using this profitable business model: charge huge margins for your product and sell it on credit. Bikes, SUVs, higher education (phones, too, but that's not new). When the economy hits a blip -- say, due to a trade war -- people start losing their jobs, default on the loans, and things spiral down.

(To be clear, I'm not saying it will happen soon. It might, and probably will take years and be a mild pop.)

Re: Peloton S-1

#114
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's amazing is that they get people to pay _more_ than they would - or would even think of paying - for a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu, but their content creation costs are obviously a fraction of what it take to produce even one show on those platforms.

This is an odd comparison. content that results in entertainment != content that results in health benefits People regularly pay $50~$100/month for a gym membership so they're anchored against that.

Those "odd comparisons" are the exact thing that make companies like Peloton successful. Another word for that is "disruption"; when you're comparing two markets that don't make sense to compare, and yet here we are with an S-1.

Peloton is a cheap gym and an expensive Netflix, by reasonable comparisons. Damn is that a great business model.

Re: Peloton S-1

#115
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps a better investment would be to buy a road bike for $2,000. Spend $245 on a trainer and gear. Finally, get the subscription to the classes, and now you have both Peleton classes and a road bike.

Perhaps. How do road bikes on trainers handle out of saddle riding? Many spinning classes involve out of saddle riding.

That is a good question, I found a video where someone is using a Swift trainer and at the 2:52 mark they are out of the seat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-3-6KDu1fY

Re: Peloton S-1

#116
post #9

There are some funny things in the Risk Factors section: “We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and if our remediation of such material weaknesses is not effective, or if we fail to develop and maintain an effective system of disclosure controls and internal control over financial reporting, our ability to produce timely and accurate financial statements or comply wit…

There’s also

> In addition, customers of certain of our providers have been subject to litigation by third parties claiming that the service and basic HTTP functions infringe their patents. If we become subject to such claims, although we expect our provider to indemnify us with respect to at least a portion of such claims, the litigation may be time consuming, divert management’s attention, and, if our provider failed to indemnify us, adversely impact our operating results.

Re: Peloton S-1

#117
post #12

Can't help but start to think that everyone is cashing out before the impending recession.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NEWORDER (capital purchases by manufacturing) It isn’t even clear that there is a risk of a recession according to some economic indicators.

In 2008, this indicator didn't turn down until the recession was well underway.

Re: Peloton S-1

#118
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"how can we be headed for a recession when my janitor just bought a second house?"

Absolutely this. A bubble doesn't look like one until it pops, so you can't just say "everyone's buying $2000 spin bikes, everything must be fine." For starters, Peloton does a majority of its sales through Affirm and other consumer financing instruments, and books them as revenue. It's more accurate to say "everyone is buying $2000 spin bikes using 30% APR installment loans." In the risks section, Peloton says that…

The Affirm loan product for peloton is 0% only (with no late fees in any circumstance).

Re: Peloton S-1

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had no idea! I had to go find it for myself: https://www.onepeloton.com/membership $19.49/mo gets you all the content. It's double that ($39) to make use of the bike's live metrics/dashboard/leaderboard, plus the bike itself is $2245. This is really interesting to me, as I've heard quite a few people say that the content is what they really like.

Perhaps a better investment would be to buy a road bike for $2,000. Spend $245 on a trainer and gear. Finally, get the subscription to the classes, and now you have both Peleton classes and a road bike.

The best way to buy a $2k road bike is to pay $1k and buy it from someone who thought it would be a great idea to buy a $2k road bike.

Kind of like when my dad bought an elliptical machine and my mom called it the world’s only $2,500 clothes rack.

Re: Peloton S-1

#120
post #27
post #18

It really makes we wonder how we could be on the verge of a recession when companies like this become successful? Maybe I'm just too cheap to ever buy something like this but it feels like a mass marketed luxury good that requires a decent level of consumer confidence to have succeeded.

I bought one. I like it because it's pretty high quality, I didn't have to pay cash ( using Affirm it's 62/mo /39 months), and I was able to test ride 2 of them for free ( apartment complex has a gym with one, but very hard to get a time to ride ). My girlfriend likes it because it saves tons of time compared to driving to e.g. SoulCycle or a spin class and they have nice social features like a competition ladder. Bu…

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