Peloton (PTON) Chief Executive Officer John Foley Says Treadmill Accident Killed Child

Photographer: Adam Glanzman / Bloomberg

Peloton Interactive Inc. issued a safety warning Thursday after learning of the death of a child due to an accident involving its Tread + treadmill. A second recent Tread + incident resulted in major injuries to another child.

CEO John Foley made the disclosure in a message to some customers and the company. website. “I am contacting you today because I recently learned of a tragic accident involving a child and the Tread +, which resulted in, unthinkable, death,” he wrote. “While we are aware of only a small handful of Tread + incidents in which children have been injured, each is devastating to all of us at Peloton, and our hearts go out to the families involved.”

Shares of Peloton fell about 5% in New York trading on Thursday, leaving the shares down more than 30% this year. In an interview with Bloomberg TV on Wednesday, Foley said “the future of fitness is at home ”and that the market the company is targeting is 200 million gym-goers. This incident could put a question mark on this value proposition.

This is the second known safety incident involving a child for Peloton’s Tread + this year. A report filed in February with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said a 3-year-old boy suffered a “significant brain injury” after being trapped underneath equipment. After being discovered by his father, the boy was found to “have footprints on his back that matched the treadmill slats, neck injury, and petechiae on his face, presumably from occlusion of blood flow.” , according report.

On March 17, the report was updated with a note from Peloton saying that a member had told the company that “the child was expected to make a full recovery.” Peloton said this was a separate incident from the one that resulted in the boy’s death.