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Entertainment mogul and talk show host Oprah Winfrey said she decided to step down from the WeightWatchers board of directors after nearly a decade to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Last month, Winfrey announced that she will not run for re-election to the WeightWatchers board of directors at the annual shareholder meeting in May 2024. She has served on the company’s board of directors since 2015, when she took a stake. 10% off at WeightWatchers.
On Thursday’s episode of ABC “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Winfrey explained that her decision to part ways with WeightWatchers was due to her desire to “be able to talk about whatever I want to talk about” regarding weight loss issues. His departure from the company’s board of directors came after he revealed in 2023 that he was taking a weight-loss drug.
Winfrey has scheduled a one-hour primetime special for ABC, titled “An Oprah Special: Shame, Guilt, and the Weight Loss Revolution,” scheduled to air Monday, March 18. She taped the special in front of a live studio audience and brings together medical experts. to talk about weight loss medications such as Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.
Winfrey told Kimmel, “I decided (to leave the WeightWatchers board) because this special was very important to me and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about.” WeightWatchers “is now dedicated to being a weight health company that also administers weight medications. “I didn’t want to give the appearance of any conflict of interest.”
Last year, WeightWatchers acquired the sequencea telehealth subscription service that provides access to healthcare providers who can prescribe weight loss drugs like Ozempic, for $106 million.
As previously announced, Winfrey will donate her WeightWatchers shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She told Kimmel that she was giving away her shares in the company to the organization “so that no one can say, ‘Oh, she’s doing that (ABC) special, she’s making money and promoting…’ No, you can’t say that”.
In December 2023, Winfrey told People that she had decided to start taking a weight-loss medication (which she did not identify) after realizing that weight control does not depend solely on a person’s self-control.
Winfrey owns about 1.1 million shares of WW International, representing a 1.43% stake in the company, according to data provider FactSet. At the current share price, that’s worth less than $2.5 million. His initial investment of 6.4 million shares of the company amounted to $43.2 million.
In a statement last month, WeightWatchers’ board of directors said it “supports Ms. Winfrey’s proposal to donate all of her WW shares to the NMAAHC during the company’s next trading window in March 2024. Ms. Winfrey you are donating to support The goal of the NMAAHC is to promote and highlight the contributions of African Americans and eliminate any perceived conflict of interest surrounding their taking of weight loss medications. Additionally, Ms. Winfrey intends to donate the proceeds of any future exercise of her WW stock options to NMAAHC.”