They had 2800 employees?! Why? Their product is a home bike with a screen. Plus some developers and their TV crews, I don't see how you can get to such a number
Peleton design and manufacture their own equipment, they ship it globally, they have their own buyers and supply chains for that, They also build the tech that runs their business, from the customer portal to the video integration in the products. They make programs that include CGI and motion graphics. They do sales, and support, for nearly 6 million customers. On top of that there's payroll, and admin, and HR, and ... it's a very long list, that requires a lot of people.
We're bad at estimating large numbers so our first impression is usually wrong. It's important to factor that into any reaction to a number that sounds way too high. It's always worth taking a step back and thinking about why it might actually be correct.
That said, I still agree with the above post. Fitbit has 1,600 employees and actually ships globally. This was excessive.
Of course, per the standard corporate model nowadays, Fitbit in its time as an independent company didn't directly employ the people who do the manufacturing, logistics, retail sales, or front line customer support (nor of course the people who do janitorial services, security, food service, etc for those folks.)
So I don't think it was fair of GP to say:
> All your comment really shows is how little you know about how many people it takes to run a large business
Although perhaps it was more fair to say:
> you don't really understand what Peleton do
Personally, I concluded from the headline that there must be an interesting story there.
It's more likely that they'll do all the things they planned, but slower.
Or they're ramp up the amount of work the remaining staff have to do.
Or they'll cancel some things that would have happened without the reduction in headcount.
I have no idea. I don't work for Peleton. I do work for a large, global company that makes things though, and I do see how the manufacturing things, legal things, digital things (me!), retail things, support things, and admin things all come together and require a lot of work from a lot of people.
What doesn’t make sense is why do all of that themselves, instead of using third party providers.
Bringing more things in house often doesn’t even make sense if you’re a huge behemoth. But even then, it’s a great way to make your company fail, as you lose focus on what value you’re providing.
It's a pretty common reaction to scratch your head and wonder what all those people in $DEPARTMENT are doing all day. Some of them are probably wondering the same thing about your department.
The Peloton stores are the wildcard factor that likely gives them a much larger number.
i'm not _too_ surprised about 2800 people. i'm surprised there's anyone left afterwards.