It didn't take long for weight loss drugs like Ozempic to drive Weight Watchers into bankruptcy. Since they operate brick-and-mortar locations, they're now another candidate for my Retail Apocalypse coverage. Add that to my to-do list.I begin my crossing off by sharing TODAY reporting WeightWatchers files for bankruptcy to shed $1B+ in debt.
WeightWatchers, a major cultural force that went beyond the fitness space that’s been around for more than 60 years, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a bid to shed more than $1 billion in debt and reposition itself in the industry. “We are going through this transaction to strengthen our financial foundation for WeightWatchers moving forward so that we can innovate and compete and continue to invest in our business,” president and CEO Tara Comonte says. NBC’s Christine Romans reports for TODAY.WeightWatchers decided that if they couldn't beat Ozempic and other weight loss drugs, they'd join them. Too bad things moved so quickly that they were late to that party.
Since I live in metro Detroit, I'm adding a local perspective with CBS Detroit also reporting WeightWatchers is filing for bankruptcy.
Weight Watchers, a weight loss program with a history of over 60 years, has entered the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. WW says services for members will continue."All good things come to an end." I don't think WeightWatchers filing for bankruptcy will be the end of the company, at least for now. There will still be a need for its services, as the panelists on The View pointed out in WeightWatchers Files For Bankruptcy.
#TheView co-hosts react to injectable weight loss drugs becoming so popular that WeightWatchers filled for bankruptcy.The panelists did a good job of humanizing the issue and explaining how weight loss drugs are not the answer for everyone because of affordability and individual reactions to the medications. Behavioral modification, including diet, will still be on the menu, pun intended. At least Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump is trying to do something about drug affordability, which I'm adding to ending minting pennies and daylight saving time among his few good ideas. Even a stuck clock is right twice a day, and Hoover Cleveland is definitely a stuck clock.
Stay tuned for Wayback Wednesday tomorrow. I have three days of entertainment-themed retrospectives planned this week as I begin my coverage of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards nominees.
I was a member of Weightwatchers, pre-COVID, but I was having trouble keeping up with the weekly checkins, I wasn't getting motivated well (that is on me), and wasn't keen on buying all the snacks/foodstuffs they kept shilling. Once COVID happened, I pretty much quit and didn't go back, and I clearly wasn't the only one.
ReplyDeleteI've been keeping up with biking once a week, but my doctor warns me I need to do more (120 minutes of exercise a DAY at this point).
Hi, Paul, and welcome back for your first comment this year, both blogging and calendar! I'm not surprised the pandemic affected your WeightWatchers participation. I've never been been a WeightWatchers member — my diabetes and its treatments would likely have interfered with it and partially replaced it — but I cancelled my Planet Fitness membership because of the pandemic, so I can relate. During the regular school year, I can get 10,000 steps just from teaching three classes in a day, so that at least partially satisfies my exercise requirements, but I'm no longer in front of students that much, so I may have to look for other ways to get physical activity. Two hours a day of exercise? That would be a lot of housework for me, although my wife would appreciate it.
DeleteSo Weight Watchers is trying to shed 751,471,011.70 pounds (of debt).
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Crazy Eddie's Motie News! HAHAHA! I'm glad the United Kingdom didn't abandon the pound for the Euro just so you could make this joke!
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