Atkins begin promoting low-carb diets to the American public nearly 40 years ago. A number of others have promoted similar diets in the last few decades and it is now widely known as an effective way to lose weight. Healthy or not, I'd venture that the number of people who use this diet is now largely independent of the existence of Atkin's organization. And as for your assertion that the the current plight of the company is due to the recession, I think this is more correlation than causation. Competition and incompetent management will bring down companies in good times and bad.