Inception Weight Watchers was conceived by
Jean Nidetch, a housewife and mother living in
Queens,
New York City, who had been overweight most of her life and had tried
pills,
hypnosis, and numerous fad diets, all of which only led to regained weight. The program was called the "Prudent Diet" and had been developed in the 1950s by Dr. Norman Jolliffe, head of the board's Bureau of Nutrition. The plan included the dictums "No skipping meals. Fish five times a week. Two pieces of bread and two glasses of skim milk a day. More fruits and vegetables." and eating liver once a week. It prohibited alcohol, sweets, and fatty foods, and encouraged weighing portions. Although Nidetch lost 20 pounds on the ten-week program, She therefore began a weekly
support group in her apartment, initially inviting six overweight friends, which within two months grew to 40 women each week. to her fellow weight-loss seekers, and Nidetch developed a rewards system including prizes for weight-loss milestones. In October 1962, Nidetch achieved her target weight of 142 pounds, and maintained the weight loss; according to her she never exceeded 150 pounds thereafter. the first official meeting, in May 1963, attracted 400 attendees. Nidetch led groups and trained others to lead groups as well. Al Lippert, in charge of the business end of the company, franchised it in 1964, using a
razor/razorblade model of an inexpensive franchise fee offered to graduates from the company's programs who had kept the weight off, with 10% of gross earnings as royalties to the parent company. By 1968, the company had 91 franchises in 43 states, and to expand further overseas Al Lippert
took the company public as Weight Watchers International Inc.; the initial 225,000 shares, offered at $11.25 a share, began trading enthusiastically, rising to over $30 by the end of the first day. In 1975, the publication of
Weight Watchers magazine was taken over by Family Media (the publishers of
Family Health magazine). By the late 1970s, the company and its operations and divisions had grown too large and complex for Lippert to manage, and it was sold, along with its food licensees, to the
H. J. Heinz Company in 1978 for $72 million. Lippert remained chairman and signed on to remain CEO for a few years, In 1999, Heinz, while retaining the rights to the Weight Watchers name for use in certain food categories, Artal put up $224 million and Weight Watchers financed the rest of the buyout with debt. In 2001 Debbane organized an initial public offering for Weight Watchers and took it public again. In 2000, the new owners reacquired the license to publish
Weight Watchers Magazine from
Time Inc., where Heinz had offloaded it in 1996 and where it had performed poorly; circulation recovered quickly, and the magazine was redesigned in 2003. In 2007, it launched Weight Watchers Online for Men. Competitor Nutrisystem, Inc. also had a men's line. In late 2010 Weight Watchers overhauled its POINTS system and replaced it with PointsPlus (ProPoints outside the U.S.); under the new system, fruits and non-starchy vegetables were zero points, and processed foods had higher points than they did before. From 2012 to 2015, although it had its own app and e-tools since 2009,
2014–2018 In April of 2014,
Tech Crunch leaked Weight Watchers was in talks to acquire virtual fitness training startup Wello. Weight Watchers confirmed the acquisition the following month, which spurred a series of acquisitions in the
digital therapeutics space. One year later, in April and May of 2015, Weight Watchers also acquired 5 minute fitness app Hot 5 and the online community and "selfie startup" Weilos. Features of Weilos would later be relaunched as Weight Watcher's Connect product, an online community in-app and on the web. In October 2015,
Oprah Winfrey partnered with Weight Watchers. Winfrey bought a 10% stake in the company, became its spokesperson, joined its board of directors, and lost weight on the program, plus she helped launch a new holistic lifestyle and fitness program called "Beyond the Scale". The late-2015
Oprah effect did not prevent a subsequent downward trend in 2016, largely attributed to challenges from Nutrisystem and the proliferation of free apps and websites aimed at helping people manage their weight, but linked also by some, to a faulty initial tech rollout of the new program's app. CEO James Chambers resigned on September 30, 2016. He was replaced as CEO in July 2017 by
Mindy Grossman, who had played a role in growing digital sales revenue for
HSN. In December 2017, the company introduced WW Freestyle (called WW Flex outside the U.S.), which allows people to carry over unused "SmartPoints" through the week, and lists more than 200 zero-points foods, including various lean proteins, that do not need to be tracked. In February 2018 CEO Grossman announced a new direction and purpose for the company: to move beyond mere dieting to being a "partner in health and wellness" and inspiring healthy habits for real life. Subscriptions to Weight Watchers rebounded significantly by mid 2018, credited to Winfrey's influence and to Grossman's tri-fold efforts of revamping the program, improving tech offerings, and giving the company a more broad-based appeal. In August 2018, the company acquired
Kurbo, Inc, rebranding the free mobile app directed at children and teenagers as
Kurbo by WW. In September 2018, the company re-branded itself
WW International, Inc., as it shifted its focus more broadly to overall health and wellness, including fitness. and renamed its in-person meetings to Wellness Workshops. WW's app was relaunched with features to track other health-related goals. The company also announced Connect, a digital community, which would include micro-community Groups. On May 6, 2025, WW filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in
Delaware, with plans to eliminate most of its $1.5 billion debt in an effort to put itself in a better financial position. The company expected to emerge from bankruptcy within no more than 40 days, or around June 15, 2025, with operations expected to be running normally throughout the procedure. WW was delisted from
Nasdaq on May 16, and commenced trading
over-the-counter. In early July 2025, WW emerged from bankruptcy and was relisted on the NASDAQ. ==Business model==