Oprah boosts stocks – and brushes aside a White House run
OPRAH Winfrey has found billionaire success in national broadcasting, publishing and as the godmother of the inspiration industry.
With her investment in Weight Watchers, she’s bestowed her star power on a struggling brand.
And on top of that, she’s overcome a lifelong struggle with her weight to lose 18kg on the programme.
As her weight goes down, the company’s share price goes up.
Weight Watchers promotes a lifestyle and behaviour programme through weekly meetings and its subscriptions.
When Winfrey paid $43 million in October 2015 for a 10% stake, the company had struggled to hold on to subscribers as people turned to fitness and dieting apps and relied more on gadgets like Fitbit.
Early this year, investors caught on to her tweets, TV interviews and commercials just as the traditional January skinny season took off.
Weight Watchers shares have exploded since January 1, rising 26% after markets closed on Tues- day. They rose another 36% in early trading o Wednesday after the company announced it had beat analyst expectations on a fourth-quarter profit of $13.3m
“There is a big halo from her involvement on the brand,” said John Tomlinson, head of consumer research at M Science, a research analytics firm. “No question.”
In the fourth quarter, the company also issued a better-than-expected profit forecast and added subscribers.
The actress/film-maker/philanthropist and TV personality’s ups and downs and her exercise regimen – she tries to walk 10 000 steps per day – have been closely followed over the years. When she bought shares in ailing Weight Watchers in 2015, the price rocketed 100%.
“The impact of having a strategic marketing relationship with Oprah is not just a one-and-done deal,” said Alex Fuhrman, an analyst with Craig-Hallum Capital Group.
“The fact that Oprah has had tremendous success personally on the programme is very helpful. The company had a nice bounce in the 2016 diet season as a result of its relationship with Oprah.”
Winfrey, it seems, is unstoppable. What’s next? The presidency?
She demurs, but that has not silenced the chatter.
In fact, one brief mention of the possibility created a national conversation.
David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, brought it up when he interviewed Winfrey on Peer to Peer Conversations, his Bloomberg TV show.
With President Donald Trump, he said, the American public elected “a media figure”.
“Have you ever thought, given the popularity you have, that you could actually run for president and be elected?”
Trump’s victory apparently had got her thinking. “I thought, oh, gee, I don’t have the experience, I don’t know enough,” she said. “And now I’m thinking… Oh.”
The interview was taped after Trump was elected. Bloomberg premiered the Winfrey interview this week.
She attributed the success of The Oprah Winfrey Show to listening.
“My skill comes not from my interviewing ability. My skill comes from my listening ability, and my skill comes from me knowing fundamentally inside myself that I am no different than the audience. So what gave me the power in the seat and the power with the microphone was I always saw myself as the surrogate for the audience.”
Winfrey said she is “one of the happiest rich people you are ever going to see”.
“I would say the word for me now is I’m content,” she told Rubenstein. “I’m not just relaxed, I am content, because I know a lot of rich people who are not happy. But I am not one of them.”
And then Rubenstein steered back to politics, with “final questions as we wrap up – as you consider whether you’re are going to run for president…”
“No,” Oprah stopped him, “that won’t be happening.” – The Washington Post