Nutrisystem History

Several months later, he opened a second center, and in September 1972 he discovered the concept's primary growth engine, selling the third center to a franchisee.

In 1977 he changed the name to NutriSystem and recruited Jay Satz, a Ph.D. in microbiology who worked for the Pennsylvania state department of health.

Beginning in 1979, Nutri System began a four-year period that would see the company record revenue growth at a compound annual rate of 82 percent.

As it grew, the firm underwent several name changes, finally settling on Nutrisystem in 1980.

Katz took the company public during this period, debuting on the over-the-counter exchange in January 1981, before moving to the more prestigious New York Stock Exchange.

Public expansion happened in the year 1982 and it became a 300 million public behemoth.

Senior Nutri System officials began selling large amounts of stock they held in the company, beginning in January 1983 when Katz sold 670,000 shares.

In 1984, the company posted a 17.4 million-dollar loss.

The company structure changed in the period between 1985-86 when Katz was bought out and a new CEO hired.

His number two, Donald McCulloch, led a leveraged buyout in 1986 for 74 million.

1989 NutriSystem, with roughly 1,800 weight-loss centers, generates nearly 800 million in revenue.

By 1990, the company boasted 1,800 centers and 764 million in revenues.

In 1995 he and a college pal jumped into the Internet, cofounding VerticalNet, nasdaq VERTD - news - people a Horsham, Pa. collection of Web sites with news and online marketplaces for industries like garbage and water treatment.

Nutri System sold its company-owned centers to Complete Wellness Weight Management, Inc. in 1997 and re-emerged as an e-commerce company with a new name, nutrisystem.com inc.

In an effort to improve its financial health, the company purchased the Sweet Success product line from Nestl USA. Inc. in August 2000, just before it changed its corporate title to Nutri System, Inc.

Sweet Success was a diet meal replacement line distributed in traditional retail locations such as supermarkets, drugstores, and discount chains, but Nutri System executives decided to drop the product line four months after acquiring it, officially discontinuing it in June 2001.

HJM Holdings and New Spring Ventures took control of Nutrisystem in 2002.

2003 A new food line, NutriSystem Nourish, is introduced.

The introduction of NutriSystem Nourish was followed by the acquisition of Slim and Tone, a franchiser of fitness centers, in late 2004.

In 2006, hoping to tap into the 50-percent of the population their typical fare frightened, they launched their Nutrisystem for Men program.

With these new avenues of growth, Nutrisystem seemed poised for success as it entered the 2010s.

Isnapn 2017, the company boasted revenues of almost 700 million dollars.