Oprah Winfrey Sells Millions of Dollars of Slumping Weight Watchers Stock (2024)
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Oprah Winfrey recently disclosed the sale of more than $16 million of WW International shares. The media icon made the sale through both a personal account and the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation.
Winfrey first partnered with Weight Watchers in October 2015, when she bought 6.4 million shares at $6.79 a share, worth $43.2 million at the time, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
WW—which previously helped the television personality drop a whopping 40 pounds—breaks down food via a points system based on protein, carbs, fat, and fiber. "Let's do our day one together," she said on social media last year while cleaning out her post-holiday fridge contents.
The good news is that Weight Watchers is NOT closing their program. There have been many big changes since Sima Sistani became the Company's CEO a little over a year ago. WW continues to be the industry leader in weight loss in the United States and throughout the world.
Ownership: Weight Watchers is a publicly owned company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Prinicpal Subsidiary Companies European Investment firm Artal Luxembourg purchased 80 percent of the company from H.J.
Based on 5 Wall Street analysts offering 12 month price targets for WW International in the last 3 months. The average price target is $9.30 with a high forecast of $13.00 and a low forecast of $5.00. The average price target represents a 3.33% change from the last price of $9.00.
In an attempt to rebrand itself away from what you might consider your mother's diet program, Weight Watchers has officially changed its name to WW. The abbreviation pays homage to the brand's history, without focusing solely on the scale; instead, the revamped company preaches wellness and healthy living.
The latest closing stock price for WW as of July 21, 2023 is 8.24. The all-time high WW stock closing price was 103.09 on June 20, 2018. The WW 52-week high stock price is 10.02, which is 21.6% above the current share price.
WW can use a boost from Oprah — who is also an investor and board member at the company — after sales and membership shrunk in 2021 amid the pandemic. Her marketing contract with WW is up in 2023, but she has agreed to serve as an adviser for the company through May 2025.
Why it matters: WW, as it's been known since 2018, is trying to find its financial footing, having lost more than a quarter of a billion dollars in 2022 after a pivot to “wellness” faltered and the pandemic cratered in-person attendance.
She revealed that she was diagnosed pre-diabetic due to high levels of blood sugar and blood pressure. Oprah Winfrey revealed that she was pre-diabetic before joining the Weight Watchers program four years ago.
Will Weight Watchers be changing plans in 2023? Although the Weight Watchers plan change in 2022 happened suddenly, a new program change in 2023 will not occur.
WeightWatchers has struggled over the past year as it attempted to adapt its weight-loss messaging for wellness culture. The trend of using obesity medications for weight loss has led to a shortage for those who use it to treat conditions like diabetes.
Winfrey is a long-time partner and board member with WW International, signing a deal to purchase 10% of the diet management company in 2015, with an option to buy another 5% of the firm. In 2019, Winfrey signed an extension to the original deal that allowed her to buy 4.3% more of WeightWatcher's stock.
By 2011, she revealed on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she lost 80 pounds, going from a size 16 to a size six. Although Jennifer hasn't been a spokesperson for WW for a few years — she ended the partnership in 2014 — she's kept her weight off, as evidenced by the photo above (pictured in January 2019).
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