Oprah Winfrey’s purse got thinner: stock of WW app shrunk by $558 million in just 8 months

Reports say that Weight Watcher app’s stock has fallen more than 70% since June 2018. Oprah Winfrey’s, who is the 2^nd largest shareholder of the company benefits from 7,524,344 shares. According to the latest information, the shares would only be worth $218 million, whose market value had been about $776 million.

In between 2^nd of March and 6^th of March, 2018 Winfrey sold about 2,359,702 shares at an average price of $60. 48. But before the investors shed any tears for the media magnate, she still holds a profit of $170 million more than the price at which she had bought the shares; and this does not include the more than $126 million made by selling a chunk of shares in early March 2018. After this, she was granted 295 shares as compensation for services on 2^nd of April.

Christina Braithwaite is an analyst who downgraded WW app to an infrequent underweight just after a month of downgrading the company from overweight to neutral.

The reason behind this downgrading is –there was a 35% decline in daily active users. The analyst says that the decline in the number of users is not just in the US but also struggles in markets like the UK which sees no boost even after Robbie Williams (singer) is made the new brand ambassador. At J.P Morgan she also cut her stock price from $37 to $25 that is more than 10% below the current price.

According to Braithwaite’s research, the rate of daily active users is contracting during the most important time of the year. The users are unable to login to the app. Error messages like “connection issue” and a confusing interface have increased the negative reviews. The downgrade made on 11^th of January based on the weak start to the New Year’s enrollment period has provided Noom and Diet Doctor App a great opportunity to give a competition on gaining traffic share. Data shows that Noom has over 30% more active users over Weight Watchers; likewise, 160 percent of visitors have increased for Diet Doctor App.

The wellness and weight management company suffers a loss of about 72.0% record close of $103.09 and now is scheduled to report fiscal fourth-quarter after the closing of the market on 26^th of February. After the app changed its name from the Weight Watchers to WW on 24^th September the stocks shed to 59% more.