📉 The co-founder of Peloton is broke

PLUS: Dogecoin lawsuit: Musk and Tesla found not guilty; Dollar General is sounding the alarm

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Jacob Goldschein & Steven Van
August 30, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

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TOP STORY
📉 The co-founder of Peloton is broke

📸 Getty Images

Peloton co-founder and former CEO John Foley recently revealed that his once-billion-dollar fortune has completely vanished.

"You know, at one point, I had a lot of money on paper—not actually in the bank, unfortunately.”

It can’t be. How the hell do you even lose over a billion dollars in such a short amount of time?

And now... “I’ve lost it all. I’ve had to sell almost everything in my life." He even had to sell his $55 million oceanfront estate in East Hampton.

Talk about “roughing it.”

💬 John Foley's peak net worth was around $1.5 billion during Peloton's height in 2020.

📸 The New York Times

Well, it isn’t as surprising as it may seem:

  • Foley’s rapid rise and catastrophic fall mirror that of Peloton, which has been just about as volatile as this year’s election.

  • Foley co-founded Peloton in 2012 as a high-tech fitness company offering a premium, at-home workout experience.

  • The company went public in September 2019 and quickly hit its highest valuation of around $50 billion in late 2020.

Damn, that was quick.

COVID was an odd time—some companies tanked, while others became more valuable than ever.

Peloton was one of the latter, but unfortunately, as life returned to normal, people returned to their former workout habits, which often meant not working out.

No more workouts = no more Peloton.

📉 Peloton ($PTON) stock is down -81.54% in the past five years.

Given the massive dive, it’s no surprise that Foley stepped down as CEO in February 2022 and left as executive chair in September of that year.

What’s next for Foley?

  • The thing anyone who just lost a billion-dollar empire does is start a made-to-order rug company, Ernesta.

  • He is dead serious and believes it could generate as much as $500 million in free cash flow by the decade's end.

All power to you; I am rooting for ya.

CRYPTOCURRENCY
🥇 Dogecoin lawsuit: Musk and Tesla found “not guilty”

 

Elon Musk and Tesla were found not guilty in a lawsuit claiming they “pumped up the price of Dogecoin into a $258 billion pyramid scheme.”

"We are here to pump you up!"

Sorry, I had to do it; back to the story.

📸 Crypto.com

  • It is a joke inspired by the famous "Doge" meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog.

  • It sounds like most crypto projects, beginning (and ending), have no real inherent value.

  • The difference with Doge was that many big names, most famously Elon Musk, promoted it.

Dogecoin is considered the original “meme coin.”

Here’s what Musk said and did that led to “Doge going to the moon:”

  • Musk tweeted, “One word: Doge,” causing Doge’s price to rise.

  • Musk announced that Tesla would accept Dogecoin as payment for merchandise.

  • When Musk appeared on Saturday Night Live in May 2021, he jokingly called Dogecoin a “hustle,” causing a $20 billion market value loss before the show ended.

I can’t fault Musk for being a jokester; we’d all do it if we were in his position.

However, investors who lost tens of thousands of dollars investing in the token don’t feel the same.

They blame Musk for his not-so-subtle actions and for promoting Doge to his hundreds of millions of followers on Twitter, which caused the coin to go up and down like a rickety seesaw.

The bottom line is that the case has been dismissed, and Musk can talk about Doge however and wherever he pleases.

📈 Dogecoin ($DOGE) is up 11.32% this year.

RETAIL
🚨 Dollar General is sounding the alarm

📸 Getty Images

First, let’s dive into the actual numbers:

  • Revenue: $10.21 billion (vs. $10.37 billion expected), up 4.2% from $9.80 billion last year ❌ 

  • Net income: $374 million, down from $469 million last year 📉 

  • Earnings: $1.70 per share (vs. $1.79 expected), down from $2.13 last year. ❌ 

  • Same-store sales guidance: Lowered to 1%-1.6%, down from 2%-2.7%. 📉 

  • EPS guidance: Lowered to $5.50-$6.20, down from $6.80-$7.55. 📉 

📉 Dollar General ($DG) stock is down -33.03% this week.

💬 “While we believe the softer sales trends are partially attributable to a core customer who feels financially constrained, we know the importance of controlling what we can control.”

CEO Todd Vasos

📸 Getty Images

What seems to be the problem, or at least the excuse they’re going with?

Customers can’t afford to continue buying at 'the General' anymore.

This is surprising and unfortunate, especially given that Dollar General's prices typically range from $1 to $10.

A new hope: Dollar General will “stick to a turnaround plan that Vasos started about a year ago when he rejoined the company.”

With the cost of living going sky high, more and more retailers realize that they need to lower prices, making Dollar General another option for the everyday consumer.

💬 “Last month, Dollar General paid $12 million in penalties in a settlement with the Department of Labor over their long history of putting low-wage employees in dangerous working conditions.”

CNN

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