The industry disruption wrought by Ozempic (and its ilk) is hard to overstate. And it's only just beginning.
See here: Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire media mogul whose physical appearance has for decades been the subject of relentless (and often unfair) public scrutiny, is stepping down from the board of WeightWatchers and offloading her stake in the company.
For the past eight years since she joined the board, WeightWatchers has counted on her star power to fuel memberships and shepherd its rebranding. When she first joined the board and became one of the company's biggest shareholders in 2015, WeightWatchers' stock doubled.
On Thursday, as news of her departure spread, shares fell nearly 20%.
Winfrey didn't disclose the reason for her departure. A WeightWatchers regulatory statement said that her "decision was not the result of any disagreement" or "any matter relating to the company's operations, policies or practices."
On a call with investors this week, WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani said that Winfrey "remains a strong strategic voice and collaborator with WeightWatchers."
In a statement, Winfrey said she would continue to "advise and collaborate" with the company in "elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity."
Winfrey's cheerleading has helped WeightWatchers weather a tumultuous era in the diet industry, which has come under fire for its singular focus on weight loss rather than overall health. With Winfrey behind the megaphone, WeightWatchers shifted its marketing to promote a more holistic approach to health and wellness. More loving your body, less point-counting. It even formally dropped the name WeightWatchers in 2018 and renamed itself WW International.
But competition in the age of Ozempic has been hard to fend off. And without its most famous backer, WW's struggle just got a lot harder.
If you can't beat em, join em...
WW membership dropped during the pandemic, which also forced its in-person meetings to shut down or go online. At the same time, Ozempic, a diabetes drug that'd been keeping Hollywood svelte through off-label prescriptions, burst into the public consciousness. Ozempic's sister drug, Wegovy, was approved for weight loss in June 2021, boosting demand so much that drugmakers couldn't keep up.
WeightWatchers seemed to recognize the existential threat that the new class of drugs posed to its business model. A year ago, WW made a $100 million-plus deal to buy Sequence, a telehealth business that prescribes the drugs, and launched a membership plan for people taking them.
Investors appear unsure about the company's growth prospects, however. The stock has slumped 60% since the start of the year.
MY TWO CENTS
No one can command an army of upper-middle class shoppers with a single nod of approval quite like Oprah. If you grew up watching her talk show every day, like I did, you know she could sell out a merchant's entire inventory the moment their product showed up on a Favorite Things episode (the best episode of the year, always). She is a market-moving force who has also candidly broadcast her yearslong struggle with dieting and body image.
So it was no small thing when Oprah, a cultural touchstone for millions of people who have shared in her weight journey, told People Magazine in December that she had started using a weight-loss drug. She didn't specify which one, but it's not wild speculation to assume it's one of the blockbuster medications that have become part of the early-2020s zeitgeist.
The drugs were already wildly popular. But if Oprah's on them, too, she's giving them a powerful stamp of approval that many of her fans will take to heart.
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