Good morning. It's Thursday, June 18, and welcome to this week's Business & Finance newsletter. Today, we're covering diet company Weight Watchers, the Great Recession, and, given that so many of the companies IPOing this summer have ties to it, the startup accelerator Y Combinator.
PS: Thank you to every reader who has replied to this email over the past two-ish years! Next week, we're revamping the 1440 Business & Finance newsletter based on your insights—stay tuned for the debut.
—Phoebe Bain, 1440 Business & Finance Section Editor
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Weighing in on Weight Watchers |
Weight Watchers 101
Founded in 1963 by New York City housewife Jean Nidetch, Weight Watchers is a health and wellness company that was once considered the world's leading commercial weight-loss program, with its market cap peaking in 2018 at more than $6B.
Weight Watchers rose to popularity in the 1960s via a behavioral psychology-informed approach to weight loss, with the support-group-like environment of its Weight Watchers meetings at the center of its methodology. In 1997, the program began assigning a point value to every food and drink, with members counting points rather than calories. While it is also known for selling Weight Watchers-branded foods in major grocery stores and online, the majority of its revenue has historically come from relatively affordable membership fees.
Weight Watchers began to offer access to GLP-1 medications as part of its program in 2023, but the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss medications beginning around 2021 is among the factors that have upended the business in recent years. When Weight Watchers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2025, its market cap had shrunk by about 99% from its peak to a mere $23M.
Explore everything else we've found on Weight Watchers.
Also, check out ...
> Nidetch had a gambling problem, burning through the $7M she made from the company's sale to Heinz after moving to Las Vegas. (Listen)
> From Ozempic to Wegovy, see the $58B weight-loss drug market visualized in one chart. (View)
> Nidetch founded Weight Watchers in 1963 after someone mistook her for being pregnant. (Listen)
> Inside Oprah Winfrey's investment in Weight Watchers. (Watch) |
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In partnership with Half Baked |
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Every Great Idea Starts Half Baked |
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Airbnb started with air mattresses on a living room floor. Stripe began as a side project. Most of the startup stories you read today have been polished by years of success—but the most interesting part is what they looked like before anyone knew they would work. When the idea was half baked.
That’s why 130,000+ people read Half Baked, a free daily newsletter uncovering original startup ideas, emerging trends, and fascinating stories from founders. Each edition explores the ideas, industries, and opportunities that most people haven’t discovered yet—from AI and e-commerce to bioengineering and niches you never knew existed.
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The Great Recession, explained
Caused by factors including risky subprime mortgage lending and a lack of financial regulation, the "Great Recession" refers to the economic downturn that occurred during a roughly 18-month period between 2007 and 2009. It had a significant impact on everyday Americans, with the unemployment rate more than doubling from less than 5% to 10%, foreclosures rising by about 800% among prime borrowers, and SNAP food stamp enrollment surging from about 26 million people to over 40 million.
Leading up to 2008, home prices had been artificially inflated for years, driven by speculation and loose lending. Many nonbank lenders began approving subprime mortgages—which often came with low initial interest rates that reset to a higher rate after a set period—for homebuyers who didn't meet traditional requirements.
On Wall Street, mortgages were often considered low-risk investments, with many being packaged together and sold as a single financial asset. But when adjustable mortgage rates reset higher, homeowners began defaulting en masse—causing home prices to fall more than 20% nationally and mortgage-backed securities to deteriorate.
The idea that many of these financial institutions were "too big to fail" ultimately prompted the government to pump more than $400B into the financial system through the Troubled Asset Relief Program bank bailout.
Explore everything else we've found on The Great Recession.
Also, check out ...
> The main causes of the Great Recession, explained. (Watch)
> Listen to an account of a community bank that the FDIC took over during the Great Recession. (Listen)
> Credit default swaps, explained with toys. (Watch)
> Track how much money the US government has spent on bailouts. (Explore) |
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🫶 Humankind: A 7-Eleven convenience store franchise owner in Japan is inviting people at risk of heatstroke to cool down inside his stores—thanks to a similar act of kindness from a restaurant owner that he experienced years ago. |
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What is YC?
Regarded as the most well-known and successful startup accelerator, Y Combinator is an organization focused on helping early-stage companies achieve rapid growth through a combination of funding and structured mentorship.
Many companies that would later become household names and change the way we live today got their start at Y Combinator, or YC, including Airbnb, Reddit, DoorDash, and more.
The accelerator has funded more than 5,000 startups, which it claims are now worth more than a combined $1T. Over 90 of those startups now have valuations of $1B or greater, and at least 11 were publicly traded as of August 2025.
As many as 90% of startups fail on average—but Y Combinator startups only have about a 20% failure rate. Some argue that these portfolio companies may achieve higher valuations due in part to the brand recognition and subsequent investor access stemming from the association with the program.
Explore everything else we've found on Y Combinator.
Also, check out ...
> OpenAI CEO Sam Altman incubated his company Loopt in the accelerator's first batch of startups—and later became the president of YC itself. See where other founders from the first batch are now. (View)
> Thumb through a complete archive of YC Founder Paul Graham's insightful essays. (Explore)
> How to get accepted to Y Combinator, which has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard. (Read)
> Get a look inside the schedule of a typical three-month YC batch. (Read) |
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One Story We're Taking Stock In |
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Last week, Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX went public in history's largest IPO, making Musk the world's first trillionaire. Many were quick to point out that this happened despite SpaceX's questionable financials: In reality, it's a "modestly sized, money-losing company with accelerating losses," with a future that "depends on uncertain factors such as the success of its experimental rocket, Starship," in the words of one post-IPO feature story, one of our personal favorite reads of the week.
Given its pre-IPO balance sheet, SpaceX closing its IPO day with a market cap of $2.1T doesn't make much sense—unless one accounts for something investors call the "Elon premium," the story's author points out. Specifically, Musk has a long history of convincing the stock market to buy into his dreams, no matter the economic reality. Read the story below for the full explanation. |
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> We’re All on Starship Elon Now. (Read) |
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> How SpaceX compares to history's other largest IPOs. (1440 Topics) |
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In partnership with Half Baked |
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The Best Ideas and Stories In Business |
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