TV celebrity Oprah Winfrey is paying about NZ$63.4 million for a 10% stake in Weight Watchers and is joining the weight management company’s board. The company’s shares are up almost 75% in premarket trading on word of the deal.
Weight Watchers International Inc said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that as part of a five-year agreement, Winfrey has given the company the right to use her name, image, likeness and endorsement for the company, its programmes, products and services, subject to her approval. She will also make personal appearances on the company’s behalf.
For her part, Winfrey has the right to use Weight Watchers marks to collaborate with and promote the company, its programmes, products and services.
“Weight Watchers has given me the tools to begin to make the lasting shift that I and so many of us who are struggling with weight have longed for,” Oprah said in the statement. “I believe in the programme so much I decided to invest in the company and partner in its evolution.”
