Nationwide weight loss and nutrition giant Jenny Craig will reportedly shut its doors after four decades, executives told employees in an ominous internal email Tuesday night, warning of mass layoffs as early as this week, following a wave of large corporate job cuts and as the popularity of weight loss drugs, including the diabetes drug Ozempic, surges.
Key Facts
In an internal email obtained by NBC News, company executives told salaried employees their last day at the company will be Friday, and that hourly employees worked their final shifts on Tuesday (Forbes has reached out to Jenny Craig for confirmation).
Company officials said the decision to shut down comes as the weight loss chain struggles to “secure additional financing”—officials had reportedly warned employees last week of plans to wind down “physical operations,” close its Carlsbad, California, headquarters and transition to an “e-commerce model” as it searched for a buyer.
Shares of HIG Capital, the private-equity firm that acquired Jenny Craig in April 2019, dropped 1.05% Wednesday morning, to $69.77, and are down more than 7% on the year.
The NBC News report comes amid a surge in weight loss drugs, including diabetes drugs Wegovy, Rybelsus and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic—a drug nicknamed Hollywood’s “worst kept secret” that that has become so popular it coincided with a nationwide shortage, even though its primary use is to lower blood sugar among people with type-two diabetes.
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has also been pushing for a fast-track approval of its diabetes drug tirzepatide (marketed as Mounjaro), for weight loss purposes after an auspicious clinical trial that indicates Mounjaro could be more successful in helping people lose weight than other drugs on the market, including Ozempic.
Big Number
1,732. That’s how many people Jenny Craig employs as of April 30, according to PitchBook.
Tangent
Jenny Craig could become the latest in a growing list of major U.S. companies to reduce their head counts in recent months as a combination of factors, including high inflation, economic uncertainty and changing consumer shopping dynamics, prompt executives to restructure their staff. In October, at-home workout equipment manufacturer Peloton slashed 500 employees (12% of its workforce), in its fourth round of cuts in 2022, after the company’s profits declined after a Covid-era boom. Tonal, an at-home fitness company, also cut more than a third of its staff in July, while rowing machine maker Hydrow conducted multiple rounds of layoffs starting in July.
This story was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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