Thursday Mar.09, 2023
👩⚕️ WeightWatchers' prescription bet
On-screen appointment (Rafael Henrique/Getty Images)
Hey Snackers,
Apple’s latest launch is very… banana. To boost interest until the iPhone 15 is released, the tech titan unveiled a groundbreaking new color for the 14: Minion yellow.
The Dow slipped again yesterday after Fed Chair Powell wrapped up his congressional testimony, which suggested higher interest rates for longer. While job openings ticked down in January, there were nearly two open roles for each available worker.
RX
WeightWatchers steps into the Ozempic market as the telehealth industry tries to find its footing
An appetite for growth… WW International (aka: WeightWatchers) has its eye on telehealth. The OG weight-loss biz said it's buying health biz Sequence for $106M. Sequence's members pay $100/month for access to video appointments with docs who can prescribe weight-loss meds like Wegovy. WW says prescription meds can complement its lifestyle-based "points" program.
- Sell-ehealth: The latest weight-loss push involves a class of drugs that include Wegovy and Ozempic. While Wegovy is FDA-approved for weight management, Ozempic is not (it’s approved to treat diabetes).
- Hot topic: Elon Musk and Chelsea Handler are just two of several celebs who've said they've taken one of these injectable drugs.
- StockWatchers: WW's stock jumped nearly 80% after the Sequence deal announcement, but is down 90% over the past five years as subscriptions have sagged.
The doctor is in… your iPhone. Telemedicine boomed during the pandemic, when trips to the doc’s office carried heightened Covid risks. But the path ahead is less clear. While Teladoc and Hims & Hers Health are still seeing some growth, other players like GoodRx saw declines. Meanwhile, scrutiny’s heating up: last year Cerebral paused prescriptions of controlled substances like Adderall after regulators reportedly began investigating. Now, as the Biden admin moves to require in-person doctor visits for prescriptions like Adderall and Oxycontin, the telehealth industry could pivot to cater to a growing demand for weight-loss meds.
You don’t need to buy the skyscraper… sometimes all it takes is a blueprint. WeightWatchers is one of the better-known weight-loss brands, but declining subs suggest it’s lost its star power. Meanwhile, Sequence is relatively unknown with only 24K members. Yet it has the prescription foundation that could help WW build on a growing trend: weight-loss meds prescribed virtually.
Notice
Women leaders are switching jobs at the highest rate as “the broken rung” stalls promotions
“The Great Breakup” is here… and it’s not a new rom-com. A recent McKinsey study says women leaders are leaving their companies at the highest rate ever as they demand more from their workplaces. Obstacles to getting promoted, pay gaps, and office microaggressions are all contributing to departures. Female leaders are 2X as likely as male leaders to be mistaken for someone in a junior position. And in the US women are paid 17% less than men. So while women have made major strides in the past century, leadership gaps remain:
- Two steps ahead: For the first time in history, female CEOs run more than a tenth of Fortune 500 companies, including names like GM, Oracle, Walgreens, and AMD.
- Still four steps back: Only one in five C-suite execs is a woman, and just one in 20 is a woman of color. Men also still make up the vast majority of S&P 500 board seats, despite the fact that companies with more women leaders tend to outperform.
Two weeks’ notice… Despite some gains over the past eight years, women are still underrepresented at each level on the corporate ladder. Men are more likely to be promoted from entry to management positions — a problem known as “the broken rung” — making it harder for women to climb the ranks. Only 87 women are promoted to managerial positions for every 100 men, and it’s lower for women of color.
It’s a self-feeding cycle… until the broken rung is fixed. When there are fewer women in top positions, women are less likely to have the same advancement opportunities as their male counterparts. Now companies risk losing the relatively few women leaders they have left — and consequently could risk losing the next generation of leaders.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Souper: Campbell Soup boosted its annual sales forecast after another hot quarter. Americans kept stocking its soup cans and snacks like Goldfish crackers and Pepperidge Farm cookies, despite several price hikes.
- Kix: In its first earnings of the post-Yeezy era, Adidas reported a $760M+ loss and slashed its dividend. It expects its first annual loss in 31 years after nixing its lucrative sneaker collab with Kanye West.
- TokOff: The White House supported a bipartisan bill that could give President Biden the power to ban TikTok in the US (or force a sale), and urged Congress to pass it quickly because of national-security concerns.
- Rise: As travel booms, American Airlines said it would match Delta’s pay increases for pilots. Last week Delta became the first big US airline to seal a new deal with pilots. Others could be pressured to follow.
- TruckOff: Uber stock rose after Bloomberg reported that the ride-hailer is considering spinning off its freight biz, which connects semitruck drivers with high-volume loads (and last quarter did $1.5B in revenue).
Thursday
- Earnings expected from Solo Brands, Smith & Wesson, Gap, Build A Bear, Toro, Allbirds, Vail Resorts, and DocuSign
Authors of this Snacks own shares: of Delta, Apple, GM, and Uber
ID: 2782140
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