Weight Watchers Has Filed for Bankruptcy — Here's Who Owns the Famous Brand

Thanks to a flood of new methods for losing weight, Weight Watchers has filed for bankruptcy. The company, which has been in operation for more than 60 years, has spent much of that time selling users on a plan by which they can lose weight without sacrificing the foods they love.

Following the news that the company had declared bankruptcy, many people wanted to know more about who owns the company and what the full story of its collapse is. Here's what we know.

Weight Watchers is a publicly traded company that is managed by Parent WW International Inc., a parent company that was also the company responsible for the bankruptcy filing. The stock for Weight Watchers is held by investors all over the world, although many of those investors likely aren't happy with the current price, which is under one dollar.

Tara Comonte, a former board member, was named the company's interim CEO in September.

"As the conversation around weight shifts toward long-term health, our commitment to delivering the most trusted, science-backed, and holistic solutions — grounded in community support and lasting results — has never been stronger, or more important," she said in a statement on May 6. The company said it expects to be out of bankruptcy within 45 days and that it has the support of three-quarters of its debt holders, per NPR.

The company got into the prescription weight loss business in 2023, and at the time, launched a $106 million acquisition of Sequence, now WeightWatchers Clinic, a telehealth service that helps users get access to prescription weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Trulicity. Even as overall revenue at the company has declined, this telehealth business has grown.

Although Oprah is herself a major mogul, she no longer has any sort of ownership role inside of Weight Watchers. Instead, she served on the board of the organization and has also served as its brand ambassador at various junctures. She exited the board of the organization in 2024 after almost 10 years as a part of the company, and the news that she had exited the board came shortly after she announced that she was taking a weight-loss drug.

While she was on the board, she owned a 10 percent stake in the company.

“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Oprah said in a statement at the time.

In 2023, Oprah explained that she had decided to take weight loss medication after realizing that losing weight was not solely within a person's control.

“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she told People.