By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON, (Reuters) – Peloton Interactive (NASDAQ) Inc pushed Tuesday for a sale. The activist firm said that plans to replace its chief executive were not sufficient and that the board needs to pursue other strategic alternatives in order to benefit all shareholders.

Blackwells Capital which holds a close to 5% share of Peloton reacted to the news that John Foley (New York-based Peloton founder) was moving to executive chairman. He also announced that a former Spotify Technology executive would take his place as chief executive.

Jason Aintabi from Blackwells, Blackwells chief investment officer, stated in a statement that this move “doesn’t address any of Peloton investor’s concerns.” He also added, “Foley demonstrates he is not suited for leading Peloton, either as CEO, Executive Chair or CEO, and he shouldn’t be handpicking directors, which he appeared to have done” Tuesday.

Blackwells Monday presented to Peloton 65 pages. The presentation stated that Blackwells, a company well-known for producing stationary bikes as well as on-demand training classes, had been grossly mismanaged.

It was stated that potential buyers need to be able pay minimum $65 for a piece of stock, while strategic buyers might easily make a payment of $75 per share.

Blackwells stated that companies from Adidas (OTC) to Amazon, (NASDAQ:), to Oracle (NYSE 🙂 were represented by Blackwells. Sony Peloton could potentially be acquired by the NYSE (NYSE:).

Blackwells accused Foley’s management of being “unbridled optimism rather than discipline”; they also blamed Foley for high expenses, poor decision making, and inefficient capital allocation. Share prices fell 76% in the last year.

Peloton rose to prominence during the COVID-19 panic. The company’s market capitalization reached $50 billion, and then plummeted to $9.7 million. After reports suggesting that Amazon and other companies were considering making an offer to Peloton, the share price of the company soared.

Peloton’s stock price fall had frustrated many investors. However, analysts noted that it might not be easy to target the company because of its two stock classes, which allows insiders to manage it.

Blackwells also requested that the records and books of the company be reviewed in order to determine if the dual-class structure was a contributing factor to the lack of oversight.