WW Worldwide, previously referred to as WeightWatchers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy safety on Tuesday in a bid to chop its debt after massively widespread weight problems drugs upended its enterprise mannequin.
Shares of the corporate, which as soon as boasted media mogul Oprah Winfrey as certainly one of its prime shareholders, slumped 40 per cent in prolonged buying and selling on Tuesday after asserting plans to file for bankruptcy as a part of a reorganization plan with a bunch of its lenders.
WeightWatchers started as weekly weight-loss assist group assembly with 400 attendees and shortly become a worldwide phenomena with thousands and thousands of members throughout the globe.
However the rising reputation of GLP-1 drugs corresponding to Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound hit demand for its conventional weight-loss packages.
Winfrey left the WW board of administrators in Feb. 2024 to get rid of “any perceived battle of curiosity” after she admitted to taking weight-loss drugs, the corporate stated on the time.
A few 12 months earlier, WW had acquired a telehealth supplier to supply weight-loss drugs. Nevertheless it reported a lack of $345.7 US million final 12 months, whereas its subscription revenues fell 5.6 per cent year-over-year.
WW stated the reorganization plan will get rid of $1.15 billion US in debt from the corporate’s steadiness sheet. The corporate has collected substantial debt of round $1.6 billion US.
The corporate has estimated belongings and liabilities within the vary of $1 billion to $10 billion US, based on the Chapter 11 petition filed in Delaware bankruptcy courtroom.
After its rebranding to WW Worldwide in 2018, the corporate aimed to deal with total wellness fairly than simply weight reduction.
The corporate’s shares have slumped 60 per cent because the Wall Avenue Journal first reported in April that the corporate was making ready to file for bankruptcy within the coming months.
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