WeightWatcher CEO who embraced Ozempic leaving job

NEW YORK CITY –

WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani, who pushed the company into embracing weight-loss drugs, is leaving the position after a two-and-a-half year stint.

Under Sistani, the 61-year-old company bought a telehealth platform that connected patients with doctors who can prescribe weight-loss and diabetes drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, representing a radical change for the service that made its name for in-person meetings and portion control.

“These medications have shown, and science has evolved to say, that living with obesity is a chronic condition. It’s important, no matter what it means for our business, to just be clear about that. It’s not willpower alone,” Sistani previously told CNN about the changes. “What we are now saying is we know better and it’s on us to do better so that we can help people feel positive and destigmatize this conversation around obesity.”

But the pivot didn’t work and the stock has plummeted 90 per cent year to date as people use GLP-1 drugs on their own rather than through companies such as WeightWatchers. Shares slipped another four per cent Friday.

The stock took another hit in February when star investor Oprah Winfrey announced she was leaving the company’s board and donated all of her stock to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Winfrey joined the board in 2015 and bought a 10-per-cent stake, immediately giving the beleaguered company relevance.

Tara Comonte, a WeightWatchers board member and a former CEO of Shake Shack, will become the interim CEO effective immediately, the company said in a release. Prior to joining the company in June 2023, she was the CEO of a fertility technology company.

Comonte’s “proven ability to lead cross-functional transformations and drive growth, coupled with her deep understanding of our mission and commitment to our members, give us full confidence that she is the right leader to steer WeightWatchers through this pivotal moment and position the company for sustained success,” said Thilo Semmelbauer, chairman of the WeightWatchers’ board.