Oprah still ‘very involved’ with Weight Watchers, despite reports
Oprah Winfrey is firing back on a report that she’s trimming her role at Weight Watchers — now known as WW International — after shares plunged from $103 to $47.79 over the last six months.
The New York Post reported that some Wall Street analysts are concerned that Winfrey has grown “increasingly scarce” in the health company’s marketing campaigns.
But according to a spokesperson for Winfrey and WW, “Oprah continues to be very involved with WW.”
In fact, Stacie Sherer, senior vice president of Global Corporate Communication at WW, tells FOX Business that the company is currently running a promotion where members who invite a friend to join its program can enter a chance to meet Oprah in Maui.
What’s more, the former talk show host will be featured in the company’s upcoming winter campaign as well as on the cover of the January/February issue of the WW magazine.
Still, despite the news, WW shares dipped on Friday amid the report.
The Post reported that analysts are worried that Winfrey has grown less interested in her role as a pitchwomen for the brand and is instead more focused on promoting her other ventures, including her own line of healthy foods in partnership with Kraft Heinz and her latest investment into the health-driven restaurant brand True Food Kitchen.
Plus, Winfrey has already offloaded 2 million shares of her WW stock -- worth an estimated $110 million — 361,000 shares of which went to her charitable foundation. However, she still owns more than 5.4 million shares of the company.
But on top of that, her contract with WW is set to expire at the end of 2020.
In 2015, Winfrey made big news when she bought a 9.89 percent stake in Weight Watchers, sending the company’s shares skyrocketing.
Its price climbed from $6.79 per share in 2015 to hitting more than $100 a share this past summer.
In September, the once-weight-loss-focused brand announced it would change its name to WW International and shift its focus to an overall health brand.