Oprah Winfrey avoided at least a $40 million loss after unloading bunch of her Weight Watchers shares at a perfect time

Posted On 12:06 PM // Leave a Comment

View online

Markets Chart of the Day

WW, the rebranded Weight Watchers, was down 35% early Wednesday after reporting profit guidance that was well below estimates.
The talk-show personality Oprah Winfrey, who at one time owned about 10% of the company, avoided some of the pain, as she loaded off a quarter of her stake last year.
Winfrey dumped about 1 million shares in March 2018, avoiding a loss of at least $40 million as of Wednesday morning.
Watch Weight Watchers trade live.

WW, the rebranded Weight Watchers, a provider of dieting programs, shed more than 30% of its value late Tuesday after reporting profit guidance that was well below estimates. But one of its key shareholders, the talk-show personality Oprah Winfrey, who at one time owned about 10% of the company, avoided some of the pain as she off-loaded a bunch of her stake last year.

Winfrey, an ambassador for Weight Watchers for years, joined its board in 2015. At the time, she purchased about 10% of Weight Watchers, or about 6.37 million shares, at a price of about $6.79 a share and received the right to acquire another 5% of the company for $6.97 a share. Weight Watchers shares soared by as much as 100% in a single day following the news, and they gained as much as 500% thereafter.

In March 2018, Winfrey exercised options to purchase more than 1.4 million shares at a price of $6.97 apiece and sold a quarter of her stake at a price between $58.29 and $63.94 a share, according to a filing. The sale reduced her stake to 5.42 million shares, or about 8%, according to Bloomberg data, and saved her at least $40 million as of Wednesday.

With Winfrey and other celebrities such as DJ Khaled's presence, the weight-control program reported a record 4.6 million subscribers in the first quarter. Shares rallied to a record high of $105.60 apiece in June.

But customers weren't coming back, with the number sliding to 4.5 million in the second quarter and 4.2 million in the third quarter. That number fell to 3.2 million in the most recent quarter. Following the disappointing subscription metrics, Weight Watchers shares were down 72% since their June peak and were trading near $19 early Wednesday.