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Oprah Winfrey exits WeightWatchers board, shares plummet more than 25% – Global News

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Oprah Winfrey announced Wednesday that she will leave her role on the WeightWatchers board of directors, only two months after the talk show host publicly revealed she was taking a weight-loss medication.

Winfrey, who has for the last nine years been widely considered the face of WeightWatchers, joined the company’s board of directors in 2015. A press release from WeightWatchers said Winfrey, 70, decided not to stand for re-election.

The announcement of Winfrey’s departure sent WeightWatchers shares plummeting. During premarket trading on Thursday, shares in the weight-loss company plunged more than 25 per cent.

Winfrey pledged to donate her WeightWatchers stock to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C. The talk-show mogul owns a 10 per cent stake in the company.

“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Winfrey said in a statement.

“Weight Health is a critically important topic and one that needs to be addressed at a broader scale. I plan to participate in a number of public forums and events where I will be a vocal advocate in advancing this conversation.”

The WeightWatchers board of directors said it is “supportive” of Winfrey’s decision to donate her stock in the company. The board wrote that Winfrey’s aim in donating her shares to NMAAHC is to “highlight the contributions of African Americans and to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight loss medications.”


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In December 2023, Winfrey told People magazine she was using an unnamed weight-loss drug as a “maintenance tool” for her fluctuating weight. The disclosure came after Winfrey’s social media followers speculated that the star may be taking Ozempic or another similar medication.

Winfrey told People she made the decision to take a medication that induces weight loss after being “blamed and shamed” for her weight across her 25-year career.

“I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control,” she said. “Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain.”

Winfrey said she “released my own shame” and reached out to her doctor to inquire about medication options.

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“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she said. “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”

Alongside her medication, Winfrey said she still uses the WeightWatchers point-counting methodology and drinks a gallon of water every day.

Thilo Semmelbauer, chairman of the WeightWatchers board, said Winfrey has been an “inspiring presence and passionate advocate” within the organization. He thanked Winfrey for her “energy, dedication, and for continuing to play a role as collaborator” with the brand.

Winfrey will donate her stock during the company’s upcoming trading window in March.

WeightWatchers’ latest financial report on Wednesday showed a total loss of US$88.1 million in the company’s fourth quarter of 2023. WeightWatchers’ gross profit for the same quarter came in at US$124.9 million.

Revenue for the full 2023 fiscal year reached US$889.6 million, almost 15 per cent less than the year prior, the company reported.

Last year, WeightWatchers dipped its toe in the weight-loss drug game and purchased Sequence, a telehealth provider that offers users access to drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity, including Ozempic.

Due to popular demand, the manufacturers of several diabetes drugs, including Ozempic, have experienced shortages that have continued into 2024.


Click to play video: 'Ozempic shortage impact on Canadian patients with Type 2 diabetes'

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Ozempic shortage impact on Canadian patients with Type 2 diabetes


&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Japan’s SoftBank returns to profit after gains at Vision Fund and other investments

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TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.

Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).

SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.

The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.

WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.

SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.

SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.

SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.

The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.

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Yuri Kageyama is on X:

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Trump campaign promises unlikely to harm entrepreneurship: Shopify CFO

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Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.

“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.

“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”

Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.

On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.

If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.

These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.

If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.

However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.

He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.

“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.

Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.

The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.

Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.

Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.

Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.

Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.

Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”

In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.

“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:SHOP)

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RioCan cuts nearly 10 per cent staff in efficiency push as condo market slows

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TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.

The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.

The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.

RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.

The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.

RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:REI.UN)

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