©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Oprah Winfrey poses during a press conference for ‘The Color Purple’ at the Empire State Building in New York City, U.S., December 12, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
(Reuters) – Shares of WW International (NASDAQ:), also known as WeightWatchers, took a hit on Thursday as the company revealed that celebrity shareholder Oprah Winfrey will leave its board of directors later this year and donate his shares in the weight management company.
The exit of the media icon, a member of the board of directors since 2015, comes at a time when WW is struggling to turn a profit. The stock fell nearly 23.2% to $2.93 in early trading and has lost more than half its value this year.
Winfrey will donate her WW shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, WW said.
It owned 1.13 million shares worth $6.34 million as of Jan. 1, LSEG data showed.
Winfrey’s donation would help “eliminate any perceived conflicts of interest regarding taking weight loss medications,” the weight loss services company said Wednesday evening.
The talk show host said last year that she uses prescription drugs to control her weight.
Shares of the New York-based company were also hurt due to “exacerbated concerns” about its growth and liquidity prospects, Barclays analyst Stephanie Davis said.
The stock more than doubled in value last year on hopes of a boost from its acquisition of telemedicine platform Sequence, marking its entry into the lucrative market for prescription obesity drugs offered by Novo Nordisk ( NYSE:) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: ).
But the company’s 2024 sales forecast of $830 million to $860 million, lower than analysts’ expectations of $896.2 million, dashed those hopes somewhat.
WW International has a lower forward price-to-earnings multiple – a common benchmark for valuing stocks – of 13.55 versus 17.21 for rival USANA Health (NYSE:).