Peloton partners with TikTok, and shares race 14% higher

By Mike Murphy

Peloton Interactive Inc. shares surged Thursday after the connected-exercise platform announced an exclusive partnership with TikTok.

The deal will create a dedicated Peloton hub on the video-based social network with custom Peloton content, the companies said in a joint statement. TikTok users will be able to access live Peloton classes, instructor series, celebrity collaborations and more. The hub will be available in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.

"Our team is excited to complement TikTok's already burgeoning fitness content by introducing the magic of Peloton to new audiences, and in completely new ways," Oli Snoddy, Peloton's vice president of consumer marketing, said in a statement.

Peloton shares (PTON) jumped 14% on Thursday after the deal was announced, and rose an additional 7.5% in after-hours trading.

Last May, Peloton rebranded itself as a fitness platform, moving beyond exercise hardware and focusing on content and subscriptions as it looked to revive dwindling sales.

After skyrocketing during the pandemic, Peloton shares have fallen back to Earth in a hard way, dropping about 96% from their high of $167.42 in January 2021.

In November, the company reported disappointing fiscal first-quarter earnings, posting a worse-than-expected net loss of $159 million, or 44 cents a share. Chief Executive Barry McCarthy told shareholders at the time that Peloton had been "less successful at engaging and retaining free users and converting them to paying memberships than we expected," adding that a turnaround will be a "long-term" process.

Peloton shares are down 29% over the past 12 months, compared to the S&P 500's SPX 23% gain over that time.

-Mike Murphy

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01-04-24 2143ET

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