Many big-name businesses are going through difficult times at the moment, with several having experienced a challenging 2021 that they're undoubtedly hoping was as bad as it gets.
Some are companies that initially prospered during the pandemic, such as stay-at-home stalwarts Peloton and Zoom, while others, such as Evergrande and AT&T, are billions of dollars in debt. Read on to discover 15 famous firms that have their work cut out to make a success of 2022. All dollar amounts in US dollars and current share prices correct as of 5 January 2022.
One of the select few companies that managed to shine during the darkest days of the pandemic, Peloton suffered in 2021. With gyms reopening and the world emerging from strict lockdowns, the home-exercise titan has struggled, with its woes heightened by safety issues and bad publicity.
In May, a child was tragically killed after being pulled under one of Peloton's treadmills, while scores of injuries have been linked to the brand's workout equipment. Needless to say, the fitness firm's latest quarterly financials have been disappointing.
Sales fell by 17% during the first quarter of the 2022 fiscal year, despite price cuts, which sent Peloton's stock plummeting by 33% in November.
A brief Omicron-fuelled resurge in popularity was wiped out thanks to the company's infamous cameo in Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That... in December 2021 (pictured), which saw a key character die after using a Peloton bike. The company then had to pull a reactive ad campaign featuring actor Chris Noth following sexual assault accusations against him. While the upcoming release of the relatively affordable Peloton Guide could help revive its fortunes, 2022 is set to be a tough year for the business.
Drowning in IOUs, Chinese property behemoth Evergrande is now officially the world's most indebted company. Having borrowed like crazy to finance its expansion, the real estate titan owes more than $300 billion (£223bn).
Evergrande is struggling big time to reduce its punishing debt after the Chinese government launched a deleveraging campaign in August 2020 and tightened the rules around borrowing. As a result, the company's share price has dropped by 89%.
Evergrande has been frantically selling assets and shares in a bid to raise capital, but missed an important repayment deadline in December, prompting credit agency Fitch to downgrade the firm to 'restricted default'. This is one grade higher than an actual default, which could cause a disastrous ripple effect across the global economy. And trading in its shares was suspended for a day on 3 January. The company said its sales for 2021 were down 39% on 2020.
The real estate giant will have to go all out in 2022 if it's to avert total collapse. Debt restructuring and an upswing in construction, which is already underway, could very well save the day.
Billed as a serious Tesla contender, and with the backing of Amazon and Ford behind it, Rivian Automotive was set to enjoy a stellar 2021. However, the last 12 months haven't exactly been amazing for the American electric vehicle company.
The firm went public in November but has seen its stock slide since the IPO, although it has rebounded somewhat since 20 December. The reason for the nosedive? Rivian's latest results, which revealed the business had a greater-than-expected loss of $2.23 billion (£1.7bn) for the first nine months of the year.
The firm also reported lower-than-anticipated orders for its R1T pickup truck and lacklustre production numbers – it ended 2021 having made significantly less than the projected 1,200 units. The company's announcement of a new $5 billion (£3.7bn) plant in Georgia has further rattled investors, who are concerned that the business might be getting into too much debt.
That said, the future does look bright for Rivian. Amazon alone has ordered 100,000 of its electric delivery vans, so it's likely that its recent issues are merely teething problems.
Like Rivian, Robinhood has seen its share price plummet since its IPO, which took place in July, with the firm's stock dropping 78% beneath its peak.
The pioneer of commission-free app-based stock trading, the California-based start-up disappointed Wall Street in November with its dismal third-quarter results, and has also riled the small-scale investors to whom it largely owes its impressive growth.
The company has put buying limits on so-called meme stocks like GameStop and AMC that small investors were putting money into, which has alienated a large chunk of its customer base, and could also put off potential users.
In addition, analysts fear the firm is too reliant on cryptocurrencies and at risk of getting into trouble with regulators. It could also face fierce competition from more established names emulating its fee-free model. It looks like 2022 could be a challenging year for the online discount brokerage.
Zoom enjoyed spectacular growth during lockdown, becoming a household name and cultural phenomenon to boot.
However, the stay-at-home staple has seen a reversal of fortune of sorts since the world opened up post-lockdown, with many workers returning to the office. This has been reflected in the tech firm's stock, which has almost halved in value since the start of 2021.
Be that as it may, the company continues to report increases in revenue that other firms could only dream of. The pace of growth has slowed, however, resulting in the share price drop.
While an Omicron-fuelled return to WFH could potentially help to boost the business, there are plenty of headwinds for the business to look out for. These include, most notably, the recent launch of Microsoft Teams Essentials. Aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses, the software undercuts Zoom in price and presents a major threat for the company.
SpaceX went from strength to strength in 2021. Elon Musk's space transport company was awarded a prestigious $2.9 billion (£1.7bn) NASA contract to convey US astronauts to the Moon in its Starship rocket, beating arch-rival Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in the process.
It also achieved a valuation of $100 billion (£74.4bn), making it the second most valuable company on the planet.
Yet despite all the dazzling figures, the firm could actually go bust in 2022, or so a leaked email from Musk said. Sent in November, it warns that the production delays plaguing the rocket's Raptor engines are putting the company at “a genuine risk of bankruptcy”.
While “all hands on deck” will be needed to help the business achieve its goals, it's unlikely that the firm will go under, according to the experts. Even Musk, who can be prone to hyperbole, has since admitted it's improbable.
It might have been crowned the 'worst company of 2021' by Yahoo Finance but that was just the tip of the iceberg for Meta, formerly of course Facebook. In the autumn, the recently rebranded firm was rocked by a leak that revealed a litany of shocking revelations about the corporation and its various products.
The leak alludes to numerous challenges the business faces, including the waning popularity of Facebook and Instagram among younger users.
In a nutshell, Facebook is considered embarrassingly uncool by much of Gen Z, who are shunning it in their droves. Instagram is also losing younger users, who prefer the likes of TikTok and Snapchat instead.
Meta will have to pull out all the stops to win back this crucial demographic. Losing it represents an existential crisis for the company, which can't rely solely on WhatsApp if Facebook and Instagram eventually go the way of MySpace.
The year 2021 was described as a catastrophic one for AT&T. The telecoms and media conglomerate's stock dipped to a 12-year low in December, with the business grappling with a myriad of issues.
First and foremost, its debt has surged to a record-high of $190 billion (£141.3bn). Ongoing issues with its video-on-demand subscription service HBO Max after its none-too-smooth launch aren't helping, while increased competition in the wireless sector is also proving problematic.
AT&T is spinning off WarnerMedia, which will merge with Discovery, and plans to net the conglomerate $43 billion (£32bn) to help tackle its whopping debt.
The company will also be able to concentrate on its connectivity business and better deal with the competition. However, it remains to be seen whether the spin-off will fully solve its deep-seated problems.
Gap Inc., which includes the Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands, has been in trouble for several years now, with the pandemic only serving to hasten its decline.
Though things were looking up at the end of 2020 – despite a fall in sales of 16% in Q1 – 2021 wasn't much better, with revenue remaining flat. The company's share price has been falling since May and the outlook is pretty poor.
The company is bending over backwards to revive itself, having embarked on an ambitious restructuring programme that will see it close 350 Gap and Banana Republic stores by 2023.
However, it just can't seem to get a break. In fact, if the company's luck doesn't improve fast, there's speculation it could even file for bankruptcy protection in 2022.
Like Rivian and Robinhood, Paysafe went public in 2021, only for its share price to fall shortly afterwards.
The UK-based multinational online payments company has been beset with problems, hence its poor stock market performance. As well as being the subject of several securities class action lawsuits, the firm has been reporting dismal financials.
Its latest results missed analyst predictions, with a net loss of $147.2 million (£109.7m) reported for Q3, a significant rise compared to $38.1 million (£28.4m) during the same quarter in 2020.
What's more, the company has an exceptionally high debt-to-equity ratio of 90.5%, which doesn't bode terribly well for its future.
Another multinational financial services firm, albeit of the more traditional kind, that is facing serious problems is Citigroup.
Its share price has remained more or less stagnant since the financial crisis of 2008 and failed to perk up in 2021, despite competitors' stock, and the stock market in general, blossoming.
The organisation has previously been mired in regulatory issues, although these appear to be in the past.
While the company's Q3 2021 results exceeded Wall Street expectations, a massive restructuring programme initiated by new CEO Jane Fraser is yet to bear tangible fruit. The gamble could end up costing the business dear, or it could just be the tonic that the financial corporation needs to finally get back on track.
A stay-at-home star that skyrocketed in popularity during lockdown, Pinterest has been losing users as the world reopens, which has hit its stock hard.
The share price of the image-sharing site and “visual discovery engine” attained a record high of $89.90 in February. It has since fallen back to earth with a bump, losing around 60% of its value.
Pinterest went from recording 478 million monthly active users in the first quarter of 2021 to 444 million in the third.
Still, it's not all doom and gloom for the company – far from it in fact. Its average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric, has actually risen and the firm's financials remain robust. Earnings are poised to grow rather than decline in 2022, as long as the platform can continue to maximise its ARPU, of course.
Just Eat Takeaway has grown to become Europe's number one food delivery firm, with a market share of 70%. It has also gained a strong foothold in other markets, including Australia and New Zealand following its 2015 acquisition of Menulog for $616 million (£454m). It also entered Canada in 2020 after purchasing SkipTheDishes for $200 million (£147.5m), as well as the US in early 2021 after it snapped up Grubhub for a jaw-dropping $7.3 billion (£5.4bn).
But despite its wow-factor growth, the company has been riven with issues.
Grubhub has proven to be a millstone around its neck and is largely responsible for the firm's tanking share price, prompting activist investors to call for Just Eat Takeaway to spin off its weakest link.
Looking ahead, the firm may also have to contend with possible increased EU regulation of the so-called gig economy, which could lead to a massive spike in costs, squeezing its already tight margins.
Like its big-name counterparts in the global aviation industry, American Airlines is still in COVID recovery mode. Due to the emergence of the Omicron variant, the business still has a long way to go before it returns to anywhere near the heady heights it soared to pre-pandemic.
The US carrier's share price peaked at $59 in January 2018 but has since nosedived and is currently trading at just $18.68.
The company has plenty to contend with in 2022. On top of the Omicron woes, the airline is up to its eyeballs in debt, which has mushroomed to $36 billion (£26.8bn). It will also have to fight a lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department seeking to cancel an agreement with JetBlue over the consolidation of flights in the American Northeast.
As well as that, American Airlines has poor union relations to deal with, as well as facing a lack of demand from business customers. The latter are opting to travel less due to the pandemic, as well as mounting awareness of environmental issues.
Zillow enjoyed phenomenal success off the back of the USA's pandemic housing boom, with its website becoming a go-to for potential buyers and daydreamers alike who were stuck indoors with little else to do.
The online real estate marketplace company posted record profits of $52 million (£38m) in the first quarter of 2021 and its stock price reached an all-time high of $212.40 in February 2021.
Yet the pandemic has ended up being a double-edged sword for the firm. Labour shortages, supply chain issues, and the failure of its 'Zestimate' algorithm to adequately predict the COVID-impacted market led to the collapse of the company's arm Zillow Offers, which bought homes and tried to 'flip' them for a profit, in November 2021.
This resulted in the shedding of 25% of its workforce, a shock loss in Q3 2021, and a huge share price drop. In stark contrast to the boom it was enjoying just 12 months ago, Zillow is starting 2022 at a low point, to say the least.
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