Oprah Winfrey Nets $110 Million on Sale of Weight Watchers Stock
Oprah Sells Part of Weight Watchers Stock in Portfolio Shuffle
(Bloomberg) -- Oprah Winfrey, who spurred a comeback at Weight Watchers International Inc. when she bought a stake in the company in 2015, is cashing in on the turnaround.
Winfrey made $110 million this month by selling 2 million shares of the company, most of which came from exercising options, according to a regulatory filing. She also donated 361,000 shares to her charitable foundation, which sold them for $22.6 million.
The billionaire media mogul unloaded the shares to diversify her investment portfolio and make the donation, according to a statement from the company Tuesday. Winfrey won’t sell additional shares this year, Weight Watchers said.
“I am deeply committed to Weight Watchers and continue to see a bright future for the company,” Winfrey said in the statement.
The news didn’t faze investors. Weight Watchers shares, which had dropped the previous seven straight trading days, climbed as much as 7.8 percent to $62.99 on Wednesday.
Weight Watchers was struggling when Winfrey bought a stake in the New York-based business and agreed to pitch the brand in 2015. At the time, the stock was wallowing under $7. Since then, the company has been adding subscribers and updating its program with technology improvements that have resonated with customers.
The shares nearly quadrupled in 2017 and had gained 32 percent this year through the close of trading on Tuesday.
To contact the reporters on this story: Craig Giammona in New York at cgiammona@bloomberg.net, Anders Melin in New York at amelin3@bloomberg.net, Sam Nagarajan in Hong Kong at samnagarajan@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net, Nick Turner, Jonathan Roeder
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