Weight loss company WeightWatchers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after falling $1.15 billion into debt.
The company is using the legal filing to evolve into a telehealth services provider, The Associated Press reported.
WW International Inc. said it plans on getting out of bankruptcy in at most 45 days.
The company has had challenges with the acceptance by more people looking to shed weight by using prescription treatments such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Trulicity. They also have challenges from other fitness apps and social media influencers, The New York Times reported.
WeightWatchers acquired Sequence for $106 million in 2023 and rebranded it WeightWatchers Clinic, giving members of the program the ability to get the weight-loss drugs. It had also kept its behavior change model for weight loss.
Millions of people since its founding in 1963 have used the WeightWatchers program to lose weight, The New York Times reported. Oprah Winfrey was a board member and spokesperson, but she said in 2023 that she was using a weight loss medication to stop yo-yoing, or taking off weight then putting it back on, People magazine reported. She left the board last year and donated her stock in the company to a museum, CNN reported.
Initially, WeightWatchers charged a fee for dieters to attend meetings where they tracked what they ate and motivated each other. The company eventually added an exercise program and point system for tracking, then expanded to a mobile app that offers programs and fitness.
Despite the Chapter 11 filing, the company said it will have normal operations for its members, CNN reported.
Weight Watchers has many locations in the Pittsburgh region. Click here to find the closest one to you.
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