Nate TilleyCo-Founder, ROAS · Direct Response Expert

How Oprah rescued Weight Watchers from bankruptcy!

Name: How Oprah rescued Weight Watchers from bankruptcy!
Uploaded: 2024-02-20T17:00:41+00:00
Duration: 53 s
Channel: Nate Tilley
Description: A Nate Tilley YouTube explainer (uploaded February 20, 2024) recounts how Oprah Winfrey’s involvement with Weight Watchers transformed a failing company…

20 Feb 2024 · 1 min

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0:53

A Nate Tilley YouTube explainer (uploaded February 20, 2024) recounts how Oprah Winfrey’s involvement with Weight Watchers transformed a failing company into a hugely profitable private-equity outcome. In 2015 Ray Dabain flew to Los Angeles to meet Oprah, who tried the program, bought a roughly 10% stake and became a high-impact influencer; the company’s stock subsequently rose ~584%. The narration states Ray’s firm invested $226 million which grew to $5.37 billion, and that Oprah personally made over $400 million from the deal. The video frames the Weight Watchers transaction as one of the best private-equity deals ever.

Questions this video answers

2015

Approximately 10% stake

About 584% increase

$226 million

$5.37 billion

Chapters

This is how Oprah rescued Weight Watchers and made over $400 million in the process. On a hot summer's day in 2015, Ray Dabain took a flight to LA to have a secretive meeting with Oprah Winfrey. His big investment in Weight Watchers was tanking, and traders were betting that the company would soon go bankrupt. But this secretive Lebanese dealmaker believed that he could convince Oprah that she could capitalize on the company's low stock price. She tried the program and then acquired a 10% stake in weight Watchers and then came on board as a Meg influencer. And the stock price took off like a rocket and soared over 584%. What's even wilder is that Ray's investment firm put in $226 million, which turned into $5.37 billion. Weight Watchers will go down as one of the best private equity deals ever.