Fitness studio SoulCycle is no longer peddling towards an initial public offering.
The company on Friday said in a regulatory filing that it was canceling its long delayed IPO, citing “market conditions.” In fact, the withdrawal appears to have more to do with SoulCycle than the broader market, which seems to have a huge appetite for IPOs—both by money losing companies and profitable ones.
SoulCycle, which has dozens of spinning studios across the country, filed for an IPO in 2015. But a year later, the company paused the process amid and underwent a shakeup in its executive ranks.
Co-founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice, who served as co-chief creative officers, both left to pursue “other projects.” A third, co-founder, Ruth Zukerman, had left earlier to found rival Flywheel.
Melanie Whelan, who had served as SoulCycle’s operations chief, became CEO that year. She’s expanded the company from its roots in spinning classes to creating custom-designed fitness bikes—an effort to challenge Peloton, which sells exercise bikes and subscriptions to classes via video—and a fitness classes other than spinning.
