Amazing, isn’t it? All it took for liberals to embrace the possibility of a multi-billionaire capitalist reality-TV show host as president was the Golden Globes speech from Oprah.
“Nothing but respect for OUR future president” tweeted out NBC News alongside a photo of her. The tweet was deleted following backlash, but they were hardly the only ones pushing the story, presumably desperate to fill 24 hours of coverage. Even Trump weighed in on an Oprah presidential run, offering only nice words about her. The hype, however, died down after only a few days, with a source close to Oprah confirming that no presidential run is going to happen. The source said, “It’s not happening. She has no intention of running.”
So, RIP Oprah’s presidential ambitions (January 7, 2017 – January 8, 2017).
Meanwhile, the extra time in the spotlight hasn’t hurt. While she already commands a massive audience, the good PR from her Golden Globes speech has only furthered her riches. According to the Conservative Tribune,
Winfrey currently serves on Weight Watchers’ board and purchased $43.2 million worth of the company’s stock in 2015. Moreover, the stock’s value “jumped 12.2% in trading Monday to close at $52.62, up $5.71.”
TheBlaze notes that this means Winfrey would have earned “$36 million from Friday to Monday” had she sold her shares before the final bell. That’s true, though by Tuesday morning the stock had ranged even higher, peaking at $54.37.
Now, flashback to 2015, when Oprah invested $43.2 million in Weight Watchers. At that point the stock was valued at $6.79 per share, meaning she bought roughly 6.36 million shares. If she had sold the shares Tuesday morning, she’d have made roughly $345.79 million in profit.
Here’s the 5-day chart:
Since January 5th, the market value of Weight Watchers rose from $3.125 billion to just north of $3.6 billion.
Those betting against the stock by selling it short got a painful squeeze this week. With over 7 million shares in circulation being sold short (a complicated process in which someone betting against a stock will borrow someone else’s shares, sell them, then hope to purchase them back for cheaper), they suffered over $41 million in paper losses.
Oprah has no interest in running for president, but it’s quite possible (theoretically) that if she were to run in 2020, she wouldn’t even take the position of the wealthiest person to ever run for the presidency. She boasts a $3 billion net worth, while Forbes pegs Trump’s at $3.7 billion.
What do you think? Did Oprah give her speech to boost her profile? Tell us your thoughts below!
