Peloton latest to blame Apple for financial woes

Peloton Bike

Despite moves to increase sales, such as lowering the price of its smart bike, Peloton has announced a drop in its annual revenue forecast of almost $1 billion.

According to Bloomberg, the fitness company now says that it now expects sales of $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion in its financial year up to June 2022. Previously, it had predicted $5.4 billion.

During its mandated earnings call, CEO and co-founder John Foley addressed the issue of changed predictions, saying that the "swift" change was "not lost on us." Foley said that future performance was proving harder to predict than anticipated.

Reportedly, part of the issue was that demand for fitness products has dropped post pandemic, since buyers have been returning to their offices and gyms. Peloton also says that supply constraints, plus rising freight costs, were factors.

However, Peloton also blamed Apple's ad-related privacy changes. The company says that the moves made it more difficult to target buyers.

"We anticipated fiscal 2022 would be a very challenging year to forecast," Peloton management said in a letter to shareholders, seen by Bloomberg. "We will be taking concrete steps to reexamine our expense base and adjust our operating costs."

Peloton has also said that it will be introducing new products. There's no indication yet whether they will add full Apple GymKit integration.