Enhanced Games producer plunges after merely one “record-breaking” performance, with several clean athletes winning
Last week, ahead of the Enhanced Games, a spectacle that featured chemically enhanced athletes competing in a doped-up weekend version of the Olympic Games, our Edward Moreno wrote that the event “isn’t just about sports — it’s a $31 million product demo.”
If investors are telling us anything the Tuesday morning after the games, it’s that they don’t believe the product demo worked. Shares of Enhanced Group, the company that put on the games, tanked a whopping 40% in early trading, falling to their lowest level since the company went public via a SPAC.
The drop comes after enhanced Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev “broke” the only world record of the games in the 50-meter freestyle, while doping and also wearing a suit that’s illegal in elite sport. Meanwhile, three athletes who were reportedly competing clean in the games also won their events over enhanced athletes.
After the games, Enhanced CEO Maximilian Martin underscored what we wrote last week: that this was all aimed at getting regular people to want to dope, too. It was about showcasing athletes who might cause regular people to want to subscribe to Enhanced’s newly launched consumer health business that sells supplements. According to The Guardian, he said:
“With the power of enhancements we can prove we are the best we can ever think of and you are living proof of that. For the last three days Enhanced took over the internet. Enhanced is culture. And now people can also get enhanced and be the best they have ever been.”
If today’s stock reaction is any indication, investors don’t think the Enhanced Games are going to cause that many regular folks to sign up.
It would appear that the outcomes of the games themselves undermine the very case Enhanced was aiming to make to customers and investors. After all, if all it takes to become a world-class champion athlete is “hard work” and “dedication” and not a cocktail of designer peptides, well, investors are probably better off throwing their money into Planet Fitness or Peloton.
If investors are telling us anything the Tuesday morning after the games, it’s that they don’t believe the product demo worked. Shares of Enhanced Group, the company that put on the games, tanked a whopping 40% in early trading, falling to their lowest level since the company went public via a SPAC.
The drop comes after enhanced Greek swimmer Kristian Gkolomeev “broke” the only world record of the games in the 50-meter freestyle, while doping and also wearing a suit that’s illegal in elite sport. Meanwhile, three athletes who were reportedly competing clean in the games also won their events over enhanced athletes.
After the games, Enhanced CEO Maximilian Martin underscored what we wrote last week: that this was all aimed at getting regular people to want to dope, too. It was about showcasing athletes who might cause regular people to want to subscribe to Enhanced’s newly launched consumer health business that sells supplements. According to The Guardian, he said:
“With the power of enhancements we can prove we are the best we can ever think of and you are living proof of that. For the last three days Enhanced took over the internet. Enhanced is culture. And now people can also get enhanced and be the best they have ever been.”
If today’s stock reaction is any indication, investors don’t think the Enhanced Games are going to cause that many regular folks to sign up.
It would appear that the outcomes of the games themselves undermine the very case Enhanced was aiming to make to customers and investors. After all, if all it takes to become a world-class champion athlete is “hard work” and “dedication” and not a cocktail of designer peptides, well, investors are probably better off throwing their money into Planet Fitness or Peloton.
