Oprah succeeds on Weight Watchers, company instantly worth more

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Oprah might just be Weight Watchers' favorite thing.

Share prices for the weight loss company jumped 18% on Tuesday after the brand released an ad revealing the talk show queen had lost 26 pounds with the service — all while consuming bread each and every day.

Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt? #ComeJoinMe https://t.co/jUgpk9ToXYhttps://t.co/xtnB53EwSf— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 26, 2016

This isn't the first time that the struggling diet company, which saw its stock lose almost 73% of its value in 2015 amid declining membership and $2 billion in debt, has gotten a boost from the billionaire.

The always charitable Oprah made a play to help save Weight Watchers in October, joining the company as a board member and buying 10% of its stock.

The day after the partnership was announced, the shares, which were selling just under $7, spiked more than 100%.

And when Oprah announced that she had lost 15 pounds on the diet program on Ellen DeGeneres' show later that month, share prices rose again.

[img src="http://media.ycharts.com/charts/0a39e462817eae10461f7abf1fb5b3c9.png" caption="" credit="" alt="WTW Price Chart"]WTW Price data by YCharts

But ever-the-smart businesswoman, Oprah says she was a bit nervous about putting her iconic name on the brand. She told DeGeneres that though she signed on the dotted line in August, she wanted to keep it a secret so she could back out of the deal if the company's financials took a turn for the worse.

"I didn't tell you about it because I wanted to play the stay-out-of-jail card — for both of us," she said.

But it's turned out — for now — to be the ultimate win-win: Wall Street is embracing Weight Watchers' winning spokesperson, and Oprah gets to keep her bread.

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