Weight Watchers Has Filed For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

For most people, maintaining a healthy weight ultimately comes down to consuming and exerting the right amount of calories. But unless you’re eating prepackaged foods for every meal, tracking calories can be complicated and time-consuming. Since 1963, Weight Watchers has offered an alternative for those seeking to lose weight without giving up the foods they love. Despite becoming a household name and enjoying success for several decades, Weight Watchers (rebranded in WW International in 2018) filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 6, 2025.

While Weight Watchers is not facing many of the economic pressures that have forced other major bankruptcy filings this year, like tariffs or rising food costs, this filing still did not come as a surprise to experts. The health and weight loss industry was already saturated before a new source of competition began dominating the market- weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, etc. Chapter 11 bankruptcy doesn’t mean the end of a company, but it does signify that the company should make major changes to return to a profitable status. Read on to learn more about the Weight Watchers bankruptcy case, and if you have any questions about a personal bankruptcy filing in Phoenix or Tucson, Arizona, call 480-470-0005 to set up your free consultation with our firm.

How Weight Watchers Ended Up Bankrupt

Filing for bankruptcy is never a decision to take lightly, but $1.1 billion in debt is typically reason enough to file, as was the case with Weight Watchers. The company had been steadily growing since its inception, and in 2015, happy with her weight loss success through the company, Oprah Winfrey purchased a 10% stake. Many may remember when she began appearing in Weight Watchers commercials, proclaiming her love for bread. Shares had risen in value by 13 times by 2018, and the company hit its peak with 5 million subscribers in 2020. While many weight loss companies saw a boost from the COVID-19 pandemic, quarantine restrictions kept people at home and away from Weight Watchers meetings, and subscriptions began to fall.

In 2023, Oprah Winfrey left the Weight Watchers’ board, twisting the knife during her exit by revealing she was using Ozempic. Ozempic is a semaglutide injection that was originally created to treat diabetes, but has become more known for helping wealthy people avoid diet and exercise. To address this new form of competition, Weight Watchers acquired Sequence, a subscription-based telehealth platform that offers weight loss injections. While Weight Watchers shares continue to plummet (79 cents in 2025 versus $100 in 2018), Sequence has grown 57% year over year.

Weight Watchers expects to emerge from bankruptcy in 45 days. The company’s CEO stated the filing was to help the company accelerate innovation and reinvest in its members. Weight Watchers is being taken over by an investment group, and shareholders will keep a 9% stake.

Similar Major Bankruptcy Filings

In this economic landscape, Weight Watchers isn’t the first major corporation to declare bankruptcy, and it certainly won’t be the last. One of the other biggest bankruptcy filings to occur so far in 2025 was 23andMe. Once valued at $6 billion, the at-home DNA testing company amassed debts as customers fell, as the company offers a one-time service. This health company also suffered a major hit when hackers targeted some of its client base, forcing the company to pay out millions to those affected. One frightening aspect of this bankruptcy filing is that the company’s most valuable asset is its customers’ highly sensitive and private information. HIPAA privacy laws don’t extend to 23andMe’s services, so former customers were urged to manually request 23andMe to delete their data and avoid it being sold at bankruptcy auction.

Another health company to file for bankruptcy in 2025 was Purdue Pharma. This company can pinpoint its filing to a unique cause- its manufacture of the drug OxyContin. This drug is considered to be the root of an opioid crisis in our country, which has ripped apart families and cost taxpayers billions. At the time of its bankruptcy filing, Purdue Pharma was the defendant in thousands of lawsuits stemming from OxyContin. It has proposed a $7.4 billion settlement to settle these lawsuits and emerge from bankruptcy.

Rite Aid is a pharmacy chain with over 1,200 locations in 15 states, making its 2025 bankruptcy filing one of the biggest within the health sector. It had already filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy and emerged by September 2024, but has now filed again as of May 2025. Rite Aid has secured $1.94 billion in financing to keep its pharmacies open during the bankruptcy proceedings. Its stores will close in the future if the operations aren’t taken over by a new owner.

How Weight Watchers’ Bankruptcy Differs From A Typical Filing

Weight Watchers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, which is a complex form of bankruptcy known for giving businesses the option of carrying on rather than shutting down their operations, as is generally required by chapter 7 bankruptcy. Small businesses can skip this step with specialized filings, but a large corporation like Weight Watchers will need to participate in the creditor committee process. Here, the company’s primary creditors form a panel that votes on major issues that will affect the bankruptcy case and the company moving forward. The company can continue its day-to-day operations as usual. Once the company and committee come to an agreement on how to restructure the company’s debts, it can emerge from bankruptcy.
Creditors are far less involved in the most common form of personal bankruptcy, chapter 7 bankruptcy. Here, creditors typically only get involved during the 341 Meeting of Creditors, and even then, a very low percentage of creditors choose to exercise this option. Chapter 7 bankruptcy allows debtors to clear unsecured debts like medical bills, personal loans, credit cards, and more. Debtors are protected from creditor collection efforts while waiting for their bankruptcy to be discharged, which generally takes 3-6 months in chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Not everyone meets the income restrictions and other requirements necessary to qualify for chapter 7 bankruptcy. Oftentimes, under these circumstances, chapter 13 bankruptcy is available as an alternative, or even a better option. In chapter 13 bankruptcy, debts are reorganized into a payment plan of 3 or 5 years. This can help the debtor gain control of debts that wouldn’t be cleared by chapter 7 bankruptcy, like secured debts and priority debts. While the commitment is longer in chapter 13 bankruptcy, so is the protection period provided by the automatic stay.

Weigh Your Bankruptcy Options With An Experienced Arizona Debt Relief Professional

When a company that has been around for decades like Weight Watchers files for bankruptcy, it shows how difficult financial issues can be for the rest of the economy as well. Chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy both offer extensive benefits to debtors looking to clear debts and get creditors off their backs. Filing your petition and completing your case can be an intimidating process, but our team of Arizona Bankruptcy Attorneys makes every step easy, starting with your free consultation by phone. If you’re considering filing for bankruptcy in the Phoenix or Tucson area, set up your free consultation with our firm today by calling 480-470-0005.