Amid a tumultuous year, Peloton posted a net loss of $313.2 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, as treadmill recalls weighed on its balance sheet.  

The connected fitness company announced on Thursday that it is lowering the price of the Peloton Bike to $1,495 from $1,895. The bike was previously reduced from $2,245 in September 2020.

Peloton took in $937 million in revenue, a 54% increase from the same period last year, though a 25.8% drop from the previous quarter’s $1.3 billion.

Peloton’s underlying numbers show a user base that has grown despite company controversy and a rising group of connected fitness competitors.

• Peloton’s connected fitness membership increased 114% year-over-year to 2.3 million subscribers. The $39-per-month plan allows users to stream workout classes and other content from their machines.
• Digital memberships ($12.99 per month), which allow users to stream classes through phones, tablets, and computers, grew 176% to over 874,000.
• Peloton predicts $5.4 billion in fiscal 2022 revenue.

The company announced last week that it will release a revamped treadmill on Aug. 30 for $2,495 – much less than the $4,300 price of its original model. Peloton recalled its Tread and Tread+ machines in May after reports of numerous injuries and one death.

The NFT market is booming again, but there are signs of questionable practices within the space.

Sales of the blockchain-backed digital items reached new peaks this month, with an all-time seven-day high of $375.4 million on Aug. 6, according to NonFungible.

NBA Top Shot is generally credited with catalyzing the NFT craze within sports. In the first eight months since its October 2020 launch, the Dapper Labs-created marketplace has hosted over $700 million in sales. On Wednesday, Dapper Labs debuted its first WNBA moments.

• The company, which licenses NBA content, raised $305 million in March at a valuation of over $7.5 billion.
• MLB Champions, an MLB-sponsored NFT marketplace that ran from 2018-2020, has had a revival in the secondary market, with 30-day sales ballooning from just over $3,000 in late July to over $551,000 on Thursday.
• MLB releases NFTs through Fanatics-owned Candy Digital as of June.
• Sorare, which sells soccer NFTs, raised $532 million at a $3.8 billion valuation in July.

However, the NFT market may have issues with “wash trading,” according to blockchain market analyst Nansen — which involves traders coordinating to repeatedly buy and sell the same asset to create an inflated perception of demand.

Even with that caveat, Nansen is bullish on the future of the NFT industry.

Gap, the parent company of Athleta, reported second-quarter earnings Thursday, recording $4.2 billion in net sales — its best second-quarter sales in over a decade.

Athleta’s net sales jumped 35% from 2019 to $341 million.

• During the quarter, Athleta launched a well-being platform called AthletaWell. The announcement fell on the same day Athleta athlete Simone Biles withdrew from the individual all-around gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics to focus on her mental health. 
• As part of the launch, Athleta announced a partnership with Obe Fitness to offer free workout content for members each week. The company recently contributed to Obe’s $15 million Series A funding round.
• In July, Athleta athlete Allyson Felix became the most decorated U.S. Olympic track athlete ever by winning her 10th and 11th Olympic medals. Both Biles and Felix left Nike for Athleta.

Over 50% of Athleta’s sales are from loyalty members, who spend twice as much money as the average customer.

Athleta hopes to reach $2 billion in annual net sales by 2023 after opening 20-30 stores in 2021. Gap is set to launch Athleta online in Canada next week and raised its projected sales growth to 30% from the low-to-mid 20% range.

Athleisure accounted for 33% of apparel sales last year, according to NPD Group, and is projected to become a $517.5 billion industry by 2025.

Microsoft will launch its cloud gaming service on Xbox consoles later this year. 

Xbox Cloud Gaming is already available on PCs and mobile devices. The service allows players to stream games without needing to download and install them.

The cloud gaming industry is expected to surpass $200 billion in revenue by 2023.

The cloud is one of several priorities for Microsoft as it further commits to gaming.

• The company recently completed its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax, the parent company of Bethesda, the publisher behind “Fallout and “The Elder Scrolls.”
• Its Xbox Game Pass service, which provides more than 23 million subscribers with access to hundreds of games, announced 27 upcoming titles at E3 in June.  
• The company is developing streaming hardware that will allow gamers to play games on the cloud through their smart TVs, without a console.

Microsoft generated $46.15 billion in revenue during the quarter ending June 30, 2021, a 21% increase year-over-year.

The company’s More Personal Computing segment, which includes gaming services and hardware, saw $14.09 billion in revenue in the quarter, a 9% uptick compared to a year prior.