Oprah Winfrey made $221 million selling Weight Watchers' stock over the years

By Philip van Doorn

Opera has been a Weight Watchers shareholder and board member for nine years - now she's getting out and the stock is tanking.

This week, Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving the board of WW International Inc., ending a decade-long run as the face of the Weight Watchers brand. The stock market didn't like the news, sending shares of the company down by 18%. The stock closed at $3.12 on the first trading day after the announcement.

The stock has plunged by 96% since reaching its Winfrey-era highs in 2018 and it's down by some 50% since Weight Watchers and Winfrey announced their partnership in October 2015. WW International (WW) changed its name from Weight Watchers in 2019, and last year Winfrey revealed she was taking a weight-loss medication.

Nevertheless, while the weight-loss-program company is currently struggling in the era of Ozempic and other diet pills, the partnership was still a lucrative one for Winfrey. In total, she made $221 million on her Weight Watchers deal, according to an analysis by Verity, an insider trading research and analytics firm.

Winfrey's history as a Weight Watchers investor

In October 2015, Winfey announced that she had tried the Weight Watchers program and liked it. The media icon had publicly struggled with her weight for years, but she said that with Weight Watchers, she had found an approach that yielded results. "I believe in the program so much I decided to invest in the company and partner in its evolution," Winfrey said.

Winfrey purchased 6.3 million newly issued WW shares using her own money at $6.79 a share - a $43.2 million investment - at the closing price for the stock before the announcement. The stock position instantly made Winfrey an owner of 14.79% of Weight Watchers, while diluting the ownership positions of other shareholders. But most were probably cheering along with Winfrey when the stock immediately more than doubled to close at $13.92.

The stock kept soaring, hitting $101 in 2018. Around that time, Winfrey began selling shares. According to Verity, she sold 7.2 million shares between 2018 and 2021, at an average price of $49.60, generating personal proceeds of $286 million. Her last share sale was in June 2021, when the stock was trading just above $40, Verity says.

But there were some costs around those stock sales. In addition to the $43.2 million Winfrey paid for her initial stake, she was awarded stock options by the company over the years. Once the initial payment and exercise costs of the options were stripped out, Winfrey netted $221 million from the stock sales, Verity data shows.

Over the years, Winfrey has transferred some WW shares to the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation. Proceeds of sales of WW stock by the foundation have totaled $48.2 million, according to Verity. When she announced her board departure this week, Winfrey said she would donate all her remaining shares and options to The National Museum of African American History and Culture. Winfrey is already one of the biggest donors to the museum.

But many of Winfrey's remaining stock options are considerably below their exercise price. She will be donating 408,697 options with an exercise price of $6.97, expiring in October 2025, and 3.3 million options with an exercise price of $38.84, expiring in November 2025.

WW did not respond to request for comment.

-Philip van Doorn

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03-01-24 1001ET

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