Sept. 27, 2024
WeightWatchers Board member Tara Comonte has been appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Comonte succeeds Sima Sistani, who departs from her role as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Board, effective today.
“During her tenure, Ms. Sistani led the Company’s transformation to a modern digital health organization and extended the company’s portfolio of solutions into the telehealth space with the acquisition and integration of Sequence (now WeightWatchers Clinic). This expanded the company’s offerings to include high-touch clinical weight management solutions alongside its science-backed behavioral programs.”
Ms. Comonte served as CEO of TMRW Life Sciences, and prior to that, President and CFO of Shake Shack. She also serves on the boards of Kindbody and Strava.
Ms. Comonte joined the WeightWatchers Board of Directors in June 2023. In connection with this announcement, the WeightWatchers Board of Directors has been reduced from nine to eight members.
The company is reaffirming its previously stated full-year 2024 guidance with respect to End of Period Subscribers, Revenue, Adjusted Operating Income and Adjusted EBITDAS.
DietBusinessWatch Commentary
The revolving door at the top of Weight Watchers continues. While Ms. Sistani’s tenure was brief, she did implement some good changes at WW. The Board apparently felt it wasn’t enough, as WW has struggled to retain and gain customers in this difficult GLP-1 market environment. Usually when a CEO’s departure is “effective today”, that means they were fired. When they resign, they usually give at least 2 weeks or 30 days notice. DBW’s opinion is that adding a medical/diet drugs protocol will not save WW and will only amount to a small share of their total revenues. Also, we question the strategy of having very few retail studios and cutting down the number of informal meeting locations (in schools, churches, community centers, synagogues, etc.). We think that a commercial weight loss company today needs to offer BOTH virtual and in-person programs, and that a significant number of customer still want that personal support and motivation. In this era of virtual everything, we believe that there is pushback for more personal interaction. All the attention should not be placed on Millennials and the younger customers, since many women in their 40s and 50s still want to lose weight. Also, there has been no mention lately of how European operations are doing, or what they are doing.