Tivity may shed Nutrisystem

The board of Tivity Health has hired an investment bank to explore options for the Nutrisystem business the local company bought a mere 15 months ago.

Franklin-based Tivity paid $1.3 billion for Nutrisystem but the business has disappointed since then and the possible benefits of combining fitness programs for seniors with weight-loss options haven't yet started materializing at scale. Tivity executives early this year wrote down the nutrition division’s value by more than $377 million to reflect its changed condition. Since then, they have booked another non-cash impairment charge on the value of Nutrisystem of nearly $200 million as they assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and changed some of their cost-of-capital assumptions.