Peloton's surge in popularity tripled its founder's wealth, making him the latest billionaire minted amid the pandemic

• Peloton's founder and CEO is now worth $1.3 billion as the company's stock continues to surge.
• Demand for the luxury bikes and online workout classes has spiked amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Other "work from home" stocks, like Zoom, have seen similar gains in their share price and founders' wealth in recent months.

The pandemic has been good for sales of Peloton's luxury bikes.

That success, as people around the world were forced to search for ways to exercise without a gym or spin classes, has also been good news for company founder John Foley's wallet.

The former Barnes & Noble executive has seen his wealth rise in-step with Peloton's stock price in recent months as the company continues to report massive sales growth. And on Thursday, it reported its first-ever profit thanks to a 172% surge in new memberships to its monthly subscription workout class program that accompanies its bikes.

Investors have piled into the stock, sending it to an all-time high of $98.61 this week, up 183% for the year. With a 3% stake and another 5% tied to options, that's propelled Foley's wealth to $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

He's the latest billionaire to be newly minted as the stock market remains largely un-reflective of severe economic pain that's swept across wide swaths of the United States and its 13.6 million unemployed workers.

Zoom, another so-called "stay at home" stock, has also seen gains that outpace broader markets, helping its founder's wealth eclipse the $12 billion mark in recent weeks. Across the board, most US stock gains this year have been in large-cap tech companies, where executives are notorious for large ownership stakes.

As far as Peloton is concerned, the demand appears to be sticking around for a while.

"Given where we are in the quarter plus our significant backlog of bike delivery, we have a solid view into our first quarter results," CFO Jill Woodworth told investors this week.

The company's also begun to lower the entry price for many products, including its flagship bike. That original model now starts at $1,895, down from $2,245, while a new, smaller treadmill now costs $2,495, down from the previous model's $4,295.