Weightwatchers, a 62 -year -old health and well -being company that has faced a tough competition of new medicines and weight loss programs, declared bankruptcy in Tesday in an effort to reduce its debt in something more than businesses.
At its peak, weight observers shaped how millions of people in the United States and beyond ate and exercised. Oprah Winfrey was once a spokesman and member of the Board.
But the company has struggled to keep its customers as people resort to weight loss medications, physical conditioning applications and social networks influencers.
According to a bankruptcy plan presented in Delaware, weight observers will be tasks of a group of investors, according to the presentation. Existing shareholders will retain a 9 percent participation once the process is completed in approximately 45 days, and the company will continually operate.
The changes “will give the flexibility of accelerating innovation, reinvesting in our members and leading with authority in a fast -evolving weight management scenario,” said Tara, executive director of Weightwatchers, in a statement.
Weightwatchers was founded in New York City by Jean Nidetch, an entrepreneur who had thrown 72 pounds adhering to a strict diet with the support of his friends. He charged him a rate to attend periodic meetings, where they encouraged to track what they ate already motivated each other.
The company evolved by adding an exercise regime and a point system that quantified portions of appropriate foods. Now it offers weight loss programs and fitness training in its application and mobile website.
In 2022, the company paid a fine of $ 1.5 million as part of an agreement after the Federal Trade Commission said that its weight loss application had collected illegally minors. Pediatricians criticized the application, warning that weight loss programs could lead to eating disorders.
The company has also faced the winds against in recent years due to the growing demand of Ozempic, Wagovy, Zepbound and other medications that help people lose weight in part due to the appetite of suppression.
Weight observers renamed WW International in 2018 as part of an effort to expand their focus beyond weight loss. In 2023, it acquired Sequence, a subscription -based telesalud platform, and began offering weight loss measurements.
The company’s latest profit report showed on Tuesday that its income from its clinical business, including prescription medications, had grown by 57 percent year -on -year. But their revenues from the first quarter had decreased by 10 percent.
The Coronavirus pandemia resulted in a significant fall in the people who attended fishermen meetings in person, which led the company to reduce the amount of meetings that it sacrificed.
Weightwatchers has also lost one of its most prominent spokesmen, Mrs. Winfrey.
He joined his board in 2015 and accredited the observers of weight to help her lose 40 pounds. But last year, months after he announced that he was taking a medicine for weight loss, the company said he left.
Months later, Weightwatchers’ shares, which had shot around $ 100 in 2018, became a penny share. They closed 79 cents on Tuesday.
