WeightWatchers CEO who oversaw diet company's move into weight loss drugs abruptly leaves role
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
Posted 9/28/24
WeightWatchers is shaking up its leadership. WW International on Friday announced that CEO Sima Sistani would leave her role effective immediately. Tara Comonte, a WeightWatchers board member and …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
WeightWatchers CEO who oversaw diet company's move into weight loss drugs abruptly leaves role
FILE - This image shows the logo of WeightWatchers on a mobile phone, and the company's website, in New York, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
Posted
By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
NEW YORK (AP) — WeightWatchers is shaking up its leadership.
WW International announced Friday that CEO Sima Sistani would leave her role effective immediately. Tara Comonte, a WeightWatchers board member and former Shake Shack executive, was made interim chief executive.
The New York-based weight loss company didn't reveal the reasons behind the abrupt move, but it noted that Comonte would step into the role of CEO at a time when the company is “focused on improving its operational and financial performance.”
WeightWatchers, which was founded more than 60 years ago, has struggled some recently. Its latest earnings reports showed slipping profits and costs racked up from restructuring efforts. Its stock also has plummeted over time. WW shares are down more than 90% over the last year; now trading as a penny stock, they closed at about 83 cents on Friday.
Prior to joining WeightWatchers, Sistani co-founded Houseparty, a now-discontinued social networking app that offered group video chatting. In addition to serving as CEO of Houseparty, Sistani was previously a senior leader at Epic Games.
Comonte joined WeightWatchers' board back in June 2023. Most recently, she was CEO of fertility company TMRW Life Sciences — and worked as president and CFO of Shake Shack prior to that. Beyond her current position at WeightWatchers, she also serves on the boards of Kindbody and Strava, according to the company.
In a statement, Comonte said she looked forward to working with WeightWatcher leadership “as we advance the company’s strategy to expand access and care during this critical period of our transformation.”
With Sistani stepping down from her position on the board, WeightWatchers said it would reduce the size of its board from nine to eight members.
WeightWatchers previously reduced its board from 10 to nine members earlier this year — after former talk show host Oprah Winfrey stepped down. Winfrey, who had served on WeightWatchers' board since 2015, said in February that she would leave her position and donate all of her interest to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The move came after Winfrey told People magazine that she was using a weight-loss medication in December 2023. At the time of her departure, the company said that Winfrey aimed to “eliminate any perceived conflict of interest."