Shares in WeightWatchers had been hovering close to an all-time low Friday after a brutal six months noticed wight loss drug Ozempic drive its valuation into the bottom.
It comes weeks after longtime investor Oprah Winfrey, who has admitted to utilizing the brand new treatment, introduced she would leave its board – inflicting shares to fall into an preliminary tailspin.
However this week got here extra dangerous information. Additional harm was dealt after a report indicated the corporate had employed legal professionals for debt talks.
WeightWatchers, based in 1963, is probably one of many best-known and iconic names in weight-loss and weight loss plan packages around the globe.
On Friday afternoon, its worth was simply $175 million – a fraction of its peak of $6.7 billion peak.
In February, Oprah Winfrey mentioned she would go away WW Worldwide’s board of administrators
WeightWatchers, based in 1963, is probably one of many best-known names in weight-loss and weight loss plan packages around the globe. Pictured is a matter of its eponymous journal
However in an inner memo to workers this week, CEO Sima Sistani sought to extinguish the flames, insisting the corporate was undervalued and that new methods will generate progress.
‘Our enterprise is wholesome, and we’re well-positioned for the longer term as we proceed our transformation,’ she wrote. Sistani additionally described media protection suggesting WeightWatchers was doomed as ‘breathless’.
Pharmaceutical corporations like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly took the world by storm last year with a brand new era of so-called GLP-1 weight loss plan merchandise – Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound.
The medication had been extensively efficient and shortly grew to become in style amongst Individuals and others around the globe eager to drop extra pounds.
Ozempic has already been blamed for the demise of one other legacy weight loss plan model. Jenny Craig, a family identify since its launch within the Eighties, announced in May 2023 it was shutting down after drowning in debt.
In December, Oprah told People Magazine that she makes use of weight reduction medication however did recommend that she was persevering with to make use of WeightWatchers methods.
‘I eat my final meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers rules of counting factors,’ she mentioned.
‘I had an consciousness of [weight-loss] drugs, however felt I needed to show I had the willpower to do it. I now not really feel that approach.’
Final 12 months, WW Worldwide bought telehealth platform Sequence for $132 million in a transfer to embrace prescribed drugs and start prescribing the blockbuster weight reduction medication.
Jenny Craig (left) and her husband Sidney Craig based the burden loss firm Jenny Craig, which went bust within the US in 2023
Winfrey joined the board of WW Worldwide in 2015 after an funding of $43 million
This week, shares in WW Worldwide, WeightWatchers’ dad or mum firm, fell to an all-time low on information the corporate was in talks with legal professionals over debt methods
‘Turning round and completely remodeling a enterprise is just not for the faint of coronary heart,’ wrote Sistani.
‘I do know clickbait tales and their predictable, albeit short-term, market influence don’t really feel nice. However take delight, as a result of we’ll show the naysayers improper.’
In asserting her departure in February, Oprah additionally indicated she would donate her stake in WW Worldwide, which is the Weight Watchers dad or mum model, to a museum’s endowment.
Winfrey joined the board in 2015 after investing $43 million within the firm. She additionally agreed to be included in Weight Watchers commercials and ads.
Inside three years of her involvement, WW Worldwide shares had been buying and selling for greater than $100 – reaching an all-time excessive of $103 in June of that 12 months.
WW Worldwide, as it’s now identified, had a peak market cap of $6.7 billion in June 2018.
It has been valued above $2 billion for all however about 5 of the previous 20 years – till declining sharply, and by no means recovering, after Ozempic was authorized for weight reduction in 2021.
