The former Peloton CEO was worth $1.9 billion, and he had to give it all up. Now he’s selling mats.

During the pandemic, the population was divided into two groups: those who started baking bread like there was no tomorrow, and those who burned off the calories from the sandwiches they filled with that bread by exercising at home with a Peloton.

Thanks to this, John Foley, the company’s CEO and co-founder, increased Peloton’s sales by 250% and its stock price rose more than 400%, according to his publication. ForbesThis meteoric rise made Foley a multimillionaire almost overnight.

However, once travel restrictions were lifted, users returned to training outdoors. Peloton’s yeast was losing its potency.

In November 2021, the stock price plummeted and Foley lost his billionaire status. “At one point, I had a lot of money on paper. Not really (in the bank), unfortunately. I lost all my money. I had to sell almost everything in my life,” John Foley said in an interview with New York Post.

The dream ends, the nightmare begins

The company, which was valued at $50 billion just a couple of years ago, barely managed to maintain its unicorn status when Foley stepped down as CEO in February 2022. Bloomberg published that after leaving the company, John Foley’s assets decreased by 87%, amounting to from $1.9 billion to $225 million.

Since then cnn left a testimony of how Peloton survived a desert journey in which it had a new CEO, Barry McCarthy, laid off thousands of employees, increased its rates, and closed stores to counter the fall of Icarus, who wanted to touch the sun but whose wings melted along the way. The company is currently valued at about $1.5 billion.

In addition to losing his billionaire status, Foley was forced to sell some of his properties, including his $55 million East Hampton, N.Y., mansion, and adjust his family’s lifestyle to a less comfortable financial level. “My family has taken it well. My wife has been very supportive. It’s probably best for my kids if we’re realistic,” the 53-year-old businessman said in an interview.

Despite his decline in fortune, Foley has not lost his drive to return to the top of the business with new ventures. In 2023, he raised $25 million to fund Ernesta, a carpet manufacturing and distribution company that he hopes will generate $500 million by 2030. “I’m working hard to try to make money again,” Foley concluded.

As Ben Francis, CEO of Gymshark and Britain’s youngest millionaire, stated in an interview with the publication. Luck“People assume that there is some bank account in my name with billions in it, which is absolutely not true. It is all untrue,” the young millionaire said.

The fall of a millionaire like Peloton’s co-founder is a warning to sailors of new millionaires who thrive in the heat of opportunity or cryptocurrency, where their companies’ stock prices make them billionaires. When they’re in trouble, they can’t get rid of their shares, turning their supposed fortune into a dead letter.

Foley now knows from personal experience that measuring success by net worth is a counterproductive way to live, given that these theoretical fortunes can disappear as quickly as they appear.

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Image | Flickr (TechCrunch)