FITNESS

We Have to Be at Home and So Do Gyms

Two recent developments show that, in the coronavirus-era fitness industry, it’s best to offer a service that can be used without masking up. 

No. 1: Peloton pops 

The company’s earnings report caused financial reporters to sound like fitness instructors. 

• Yahoo Finance writes that Peloton “smashed Wall Street’s sales and operating profit forecasts.” Revenue grew 66% to $525 million. 
• “Peloton added an insane 1.1 million users to its digital fitness platform from March 16 to April 30,” YF added. 
• “Peloton shares hit an all-time intraday high Wednesday”—CNBC (that’s the biz journalist equivalent of Denis Morton saying, “If you can’t get out of it, get into it”). The stock is up nearly 100% since March 12.

Point being, with most gyms closed, equipment and online classes like Peloton’s are selling like hotcakes that make your legs stronger. But it doesn’t have the WorkoutFH windfall all to itself—Echelon, a company that makes more affordable internet-connected bikes, sold five times more equipment than it expected in Q1. 

And there are other hills ahead for Peloton, like when to re-deploy its expensive treadmill, which it stopped delivering in mid-March. 

No. 2: Gold’s folds 

Sort of. Gold’s Gym announced Monday that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its gyms will remain open, and it hopes to resurface from bankruptcy before August, but it’s not a good omen for brick-and-mortar fitness. Plus, the owner of New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts gyms hired a law firm to help restructure its debt last month. 

Bottom line: The fitness trend spawned by the pandemic is simple—bring workouts into homes. What’s more complicated is how gyms that once depended on in-person sweat sessions stay in business after switching to virtual classes, especially since many of us are enjoying our taste of life without membership fees.

JOBS

20+ Million Lost Jobs in April

Payroll company ADP said 20.2 million private sector jobs were cut in April, by far the worst report in this survey’s history.

But this report is just a warmup toss. We’ll get a more detailed look at the labor market on Friday when the government releases its employment figures for the month. Considering the economy has been shutdown wholesale since mid-March, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the upcoming jobs report could be "one of the worst ever."

The following charts from ADP show where jobs were lost across goods-producing and service-providing sectors. Check out "Leisure & Hospitality."

1. Goods-producing: 4.23 million jobs lost

ADP

2. Service-providing: 16 million jobs lost

ADP

LEGAL

This Story Involves Sex, Religion, and Politics

Well, kinda. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard arguments over which businesses should be required to provide free contraceptive coverage to female employees. 

The backstory: 2010’s Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, required all employers except houses of worship and religiously affiliated nonprofits to provide free birth control coverage. In 2014, the Supreme Court decided that some for-profit businesses could claim religious objections as well. 

• Then in 2018, the Trump administration further broadened the category of exempt employers by adding those that have moral objections to contraception. 
• Lower courts blocked the rules, the Trump administration and a Catholic nonprofit asked for an appeal, and now here we are. 

The justices argued via teleconference (a Supreme Court first starting this week), mostly along partisan lines. The pivotal vote could be Big Daddy John Roberts—the Chief Justice suggested he thinks the existing decisions provide a sufficient balance of religious freedom/access to healthcare. 

But this story ends like The Sopranos: We’re not really sure what’s going to happen. A decision is expected over the summer.

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TECH

Awkward Family Dinners Ahead for Samsung Heirs

The "Samsung heir" group chat is about to get ugly—and not just because of the green text bubbles. Yesterday, Samsung's de facto boss Lee Jae-yong announced he would not be passing leadership of the South Korean tech conglomerate on to his children.

Lee Jae-yong, the third generation of Lees to lead Samsung, apologized for past scandals and attempts to consolidate his family's control of the company.

• A few years ago, Lee served one year in prison for bribing now-impeached former president Park Geun-hye to ensure his stranglehold on the Samsung dynasty. 

Lee also backtracked on Samsung’s traditional "no union" stance following decades of pressure, apologizing for executives caught trying to sabotage efforts to unionize. 

Bottom line: Samsung's fractured relationship with its workers and the South Korean government can be traced to one point of origin: “All of the problems basically started from this succession issue,” said Lee. 

+ The company's got much bigger issues, though. The Samsung Lions started the KBO season 0-2. They'll look to get their first win vs. the NC Dinos this morning. 

GAMING

Sorry for Talking About Fortnite Again

But don’t be surprised if even your grandparents start asking to squad up—Fortnite said it crossed 350 million registered players, up from about 250 million in March 2019. 

We know big numbers have lost their luster in the age of trillion-dollar stimulus packages, but we’ll still try to wow you—Fortnite players logged 3.2 billion hours on the game in April. 

• That’s over 36,500 years of gaming condensed into one month.

Following the massive success of rapper Travis Scott's virtual tour last month (over 12.3 million concurrent players tuned in to watch), Fortnite developer Epic Games launched an entire “Party Royale” game mode without weapons. The only point is to mess around and party with your friends.

And Epic’s parties...

Are pretty epic. Big-name DJs Steve Aoki and deadmau5 are headlining Fortnite’s latest in-game concert this Friday night to convince players to spend even more time inside Epic’s burgeoning digital universe. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Lyft shares jumped more than 16% after hours following better-than-expected revenue and rider numbers. Still, rides were down ~75% in April thanks to COVID-19.
• Speaking of, Uber’s laying off about 14% of its workforce.
• GM managed to post a Q1 profit. It set a target date of May 18 to reopen most North American plants.
• Germany’s Bundesliga soccer league has been approved to resume play this month without spectators. 
• Microsoft released new gadgets for the spring.
• Gap Inc. is planning to reopen up to 800 of its stores by the end of the month.

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BREW'S BETS

Pod episode: If Part I of our interview with VC Chamath Palihapitiya on the Brew's Business Casual podcast ruffled some feathers...consider that the pregame to today. In Part II, Chamath argues that the U.S. economy needs billionaires like the NBA needs LeBron James. .

Left brain, meet right brain: If you have a little extra time (you do), you might enjoy trying these #MathArtChallenges, which, you'll be surprised to hear, combine math and art.  

Join #FinTwit: We asked followers to name the best finance-related accounts to follow on Twitter. Here ya go.

FROM THE CREW

Brew's Bookshelf

Every other Thursday, we're here to save you from your screenpocalypse with a few book recommendations. 

1. Tech: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff is an eye-opening look at how tech companies follow every step of our lives.
2. Entrepreneurship: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz is considered one of the best books about business, with straight-shooting advice on what to do when things go wrong.
3. Bio: Shoe Dog is the memoir of Nike’s media-shy cofounder Phil Knight, who turned a $50 loan from his dad into a multibillion-dollar athleticwear giant. Thanks to readers Tom L. and Eduardo R. for reminding us about this gem. 

Want to submit your own book recommendation? .

GUESS THE STOCK CHART

After a spring surge, this e-commerce company has a market value of nearly $86 billion. Can you name it? 

GUESS THE STOCK CHART ANSWER

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