Peloton Stock Surges on Reports Amazon and Nike Are Among Potential Buyers

Lauren Thomas, reporting for CNBC:

Shares of Peloton surged more than 30% in extended trading Friday after The Wall Street Journal reported e-commerce giant Amazon has approached the company about a potential deal. Other potential suitors are circling, the Journal said, but no deal is imminent and there may not be one at all.

The Financial Times separately reported that sneaker maker Nike is evaluating a bid. The talks are preliminary, it said, and Nike has not spoken with Peloton.

Apple gets mentioned frequently when potential Peloton suitors are pondered, but I don’t think that’s likely. On the hardware side, bikes and treadmills are specific; Apple Watch is upstream of specific exercise machines. (I wouldn’t be surprised if a majority of Peloton owners have an Apple Watch.) On the service side, Apple already has Fitness+. If they were going to buy Peloton to turn Peloton’s online training classes into an Apple service, I think they would have done it two years ago. Apple bought Beats to jump-start Apple Music; Fitness+ is already off the ground, and Apple has deliberately made choices that are different from Peloton’s (e.g. Peloton conducts live classes; Fitness+ is entirely pre-recorded.)

Amazon and Nike, I could both see.

★ Saturday, 5 February 2022