14 DAY TRIAL // Oprah Winfrey might not be the Queen of Television anymore but she’s still one of the most influential figures in showbiz, and what happened when Weight Watchers announced she was buying 10% of the company, i.e. 6.4 million shares, is proof of that.
The former talk show host invested $43.2 million (€37.9 million) in Weight Watchers on the condition that she join the board, and at the end of the day, the stock soared to more than double the initial price, TMZ says.
Oprah is richer now, even more powerful
“The stock soared from $6.79 [€5.97] Monday AM to $13.92 [€12.24] at the close of trading, grossing her a cool $45 mil [€39.5 million],” the report says. “The announcement Oprah was investing in the company made investors go crazy, the volume of shares traded was 70 times more than normal.”
That is the power of Oprah: she might not be on TV as much as she used to be back in the day and her OWN network might still be struggling, but she still has considerable power in showbiz. It’s enough for her to mention one item for it to sell out in hours.
As part of the new deal, Oprah will join the Weight Watchers board, and will allow the company to use her name and face to promote their ready-made weight loss meals.
The deal, the Daily Mail report, is part of a larger campaign to move from weight loss to overall health, so Oprah’s endorsement will serve this purpose. Oprah will also be using the mobile app and will work with a personal coach, which means we’ll be treated to interviews on how she lost the extra weight when the time comes for the big “reveal.”
“We are expanding our purpose from focusing on weight loss alone to more broadly helping people lead a healthier, happier life,” Weight Watchers President and CEO Jim Chambers says in a statement.
Oprah loves Weight Watchers
Starting OWN when she wasn’t yet ready was a very unfortunate business mistake, Oprah admitted in one of her older interviews. However, that’ not to say she’s losing her business sense, as her new deal will show.
As it happens, even before this, she was already on Weight Watchers and was happy with the results. Oprah has been struggling to lose weight and to keep it off for years, but this time, she’s convinced she found just the thing.
Her friend Gayle King is also on the program and she’s reporting excellent progress on social media.