Amway: Difference between revisions

| name = Amway Corp.

| logo = Amway (logo).svg

| image_size =  

| image_caption = Headquarters in [[Ada Township, Michigan|Ada, Michigan]]

| num_employees = 15,000+<ref name="sales" />

| parent = [[Alticor]]

}}

Amway was ranked by ''[[Forbes]]'' as the 42nd-largest [[privately held company]] in the United States in 2018,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.forbes.com/companies/amway/?list=largest-private-companies |title=Amway on the Forbes America's Largest Private Companies List |date=October 24, 2018 |work=[[Forbes]] |access-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-date=March 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329121717/https://www.forbes.com/companies/amway/?list=largest-private-companies |url-status=live }}</ref> and as the number one largest company on the ''Direct Selling News'' Global 100 list in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.directsellingnews.com/global-100/ |title=DSN Global 100 |website=Direct Selling News |access-date=December 29, 2018 |df=mdy-all |archive-date=December 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205193811/https://www.directsellingnews.com/global-100/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Quixtar===

===Amway Australia===

===Amway China===

====Artistry====

{{Main|Artistry (cosmetics)}}

Amway's Artistry products include skin care, cosmetics, and [[anti-aging cream]]s and serums. In 2011, Artistry brand reached sales of $2.8 billion.<ref name="grbj-20120227" />

====Nutrilite====

{{Main|Nutrilite}}

Amway's largest-selling brand is the Nutrilite range of health supplements (marketed as Nutriway in some countries), and in 2008 Nutrilite sales exceeded $3 billion globally.<ref>{{cite web|author=e-point SA |url=http://www.amway.ua/cms/visitor_news_new/Newsroom?news_id=10819 |title=Nutrilite passes $3&nbsp;billion mark in annual sales |publisher=Amway.ua |access-date=July 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903233610/http://www.amway.ua/cms/visitor_news_new/Newsroom?news_id=10819 |archive-date=September 3, 2011 |df=mdy }}</ref> In 2001, [[NSF International]] issued its first five dietary supplement certifications to Nutrilite.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/soe01-3/dietary.html |title=NSF International Announces Dietary Supplements Certification Program |date=December 14, 2008 |access-date=July 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081214123716/http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/soe01-3/dietary.html |archive-date=December 14, 2008 }}</ref>

In January 2009, Amway announced a voluntary [[Product recall|recall]] of Nutrilite and XS Energy Bars after learning that they had possibly been manufactured with [[Salmonella]]-contaminated ingredients from [[Peanut Corporation of America]]. The company indicated that it had not received any reports of illness in connection with the products.<ref name=Nutriliterecall1>{{cite web| title = Amway Global Announces Nationwide Recall Of XS® Energy Bar Chocolate Nut Roll And Expansion Of Nutrilite® Energy Bars Recall Because Of Possible Health Risk| publisher = [[US Food and Drug Administration]]| date = February 4, 2009| url = https://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ArchiveRecalls/2009/ucm128349.htm| access-date = May 13, 2011| archive-date = August 20, 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110820101307/http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ArchiveRecalls/2009/ucm128349.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref>

In May 2005, Dick DeVos ran against incumbent Governor [[Jennifer Granholm]] in [[Michigan gubernatorial election, 2006|Michigan's 2006 gubernatorial election]]. DeVos was defeated by Granholm, who won 56% of the popular vote to his 42%.<ref name="Michigan Department of State">{{cite news |last=State of Michigan |first=Department of State |author2=Terry Lynn Land |author3=Secretary of State |title=2006 Michigan Gubernatorial General Election |work=Governor 4 Year Term (1) Position |date=May 10, 2007 |url=http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/02000000.html |access-date=November 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111144945/http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/election/results/06GEN/02000000.html |archive-date=November 11, 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Betsy DeVos was [[United States Secretary of Education]] from 2017 to 2021 under the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|first Trump administration]].<ref>{{cite news|title=How Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Will Be Remembered|last=Turner|first=Corey|work=NPR|date=November 19, 2020|accessdate=November 7, 2024|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/11/19/936225974/the-legacy-of-education-secretary-betsy-devos}}</ref>

''[[Businessweek]]'' correspondents Bill Vlasic and Beth Regan characterized the founding families of Amway as "fervently conservative, fervently Christian, and hugely influential in the Republican Party", noting that "Rich DeVos charged up the troops with a message of Christian beliefs and rock-ribbed conservatism."<ref name=vlasic/>

''[[Rolling Stone]]'s'' Bob Moser reported that former Amway CEO and co-founder Richard DeVos is connected with the [[Dominionist]] political movement in the United States. Moser states that DeVos was a supporter of the late [[D. James Kennedy]], giving more than $5&nbsp;million to Kennedy's [[Coral Ridge Ministries]].<ref>[https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ "The Crusaders"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080318185336/http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/7235393/the_crusaders/ |date=March 18, 2008 }} Bob Moser, April 7, 2005, '' [[Rolling Stone]]''</ref><ref name=ReligionDispatches>{{cite news |last=Berkowitz|first=Bill |title=Worse Than Madoff: Amway Launches Domestic Revival |url=https://religiondispatches.org/worse-than-madoff-amway-launches-domestic-revival/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060953/http://religiondispatches.org/worse-than-madoff-amway-launches-domestic-revival/ |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=November 29, 2024 |newspaper=[[Religion Dispatches]] |date=June 18, 2009}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=AlbionMonitor>{{cite news|last=Berkowitz|first=Bill|title=Amway Shoots For Comeback, Despite Right-Wing Ties of Founders|url=http://www.albionmonitor.com/0901a/copyright/amwaycomeback.html|access-date=May 17, 2011|newspaper=Albion Monitor|date=January 30, 2009|archive-date=April 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120413042613/http://www.albionmonitor.com/0901a/copyright/amwaycomeback.html|url-status=live}}</ref> DeVos was also a founding member and two-time president of the [[Council for National Policy]], a right-wing Christian organization.<ref name=Zirin>{{cite book|last=[[Dave Zirin]]|title=Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love|year=2010|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|isbn=978-1-4165-5475-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/badsportshowowne0000ziri/page/91 91]|url=https://archive.org/details/badsportshowowne0000ziri/page/91}}</ref>

===FTC investigation===

{{Main|In re Amway Corp.}}

In a 1979 ruling,<ref name="MLMLAW"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ftc.gov/speeches/other/dvimf16.htm#N_19_ |title=Pyramid Schemes |publisher=Ftc.gov |date=June 25, 2007 |access-date=July 9, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108201509/http://www1.ftc.gov/speeches/other/dvimf16.htm#N_19_ |archive-date=January 8, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Federal Trade Commission]] found that Amway did not fit the definition of a pyramid scheme because (a) distributors were not paid to recruit people, (b) it did not require distributors to buy a large stock of unmoving inventory, (c) distributors were required to maintain retail sales (at least 10 per month), and (d) the company and all distributors were required to accept returns of excess inventory from down-level distributors.<ref name=Eisenberg>{{cite news|last=Eisenberg|first=Richard|title=The Mess Called Multi-Level Marketing With celebrities setting the bait, hundreds of pyramid-style sales companies are raking in millions, often taking in the gullible|url=http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2767|access-date=May 17, 2011|newspaper=[[CNN Money]] |date= June 1, 1987| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110605140212/http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2767| archive-date= June 5, 2011 | url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ftc.gov/public-statements/1998/05/pyramid-schemes|title=Pyramid Schemes|last=Valentine|first=Debra A.|date=May 13, 1998|website=www.ftc.gov|publisher=Federal Trade Commission|access-date=2016-03-15|archive-date=December 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216053839/http://www.ftc.gov/public-statements/1998/05/pyramid-schemes|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Procter & Gamble===

Some Amway distributors spread an [[urban legend]] that the old [[Procter & Gamble#Logo myth|Procter & Gamble service mark]] was a [[Satanism|Satanic]] symbol or that the CEO of Procter & Gamble is a practicing [[Satanist]]. (In some variants of the story, it is also claimed that the CEO of Procter & Gamble donated "satanic tithes" to the [[Church of Satan]].)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/business/alliance/procter.asp |title=Urban Legends Reference Pages: Procter and Gamble and Satanism Rumor |website=Snopes.com |date=August 12, 1999 |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref> Procter & Gamble alleged that several Amway distributors were behind a resurgence of the story in the 1990s and sued several independent Amway distributors and the company for [[defamation]] and slander.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=[[Procter & Gamble]] v. Amway |vol=280 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=519 |court=Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals |date=July 19, 2004 |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0320202pv2.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0320202pv2.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |access-date=December 29, 2008}}</ref> The distributors had used Amway's Amvox voice messaging service to send the rumor to their downline distributors in April 1995.<ref name="DN031907">{{cite news |last1=Geoffrey |first1=Fattah |title=Amway distributors face $19 million judgment in suit |url=https://www.deseret.com/2007/3/20/20008309/amway-distributors-face-19-million-judgment-in-suit |access-date=December 5, 2019 |publisher=[[Deseret News]] |date=March 19, 2007 |archive-date=December 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206005802/https://www.deseret.com/2007/3/20/20008309/amway-distributors-face-19-million-judgment-in-suit |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2003, after more than a decade of lawsuits in multiple states, all allegations against Amway and Amway distributors had been dismissed. In October 2005, a Utah appeals court reversed part of the decision dismissing the case against the four Amway distributors, and remanded it to the lower court for further proceedings.<ref>[http://www.kscourts.org/CA10/cases/2005/10/03-4234.htm 03-4234 – Procter & Gamble Co. V. Haugen – October 19, 2005<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704193135/http://www.kscourts.org/CA10/cases/2005/10/03-4234.htm |date=July 4, 2008 }}</ref> In the lawsuit against the four former Amway distributors, Procter & Gamble was awarded $19.25 million by a U.S. District Court jury in Salt Lake City on March 20, 2007.<ref>{{Cite news

  |access-date  = December 29, 2018

  |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20181230182621/https://www.foxnews.com/story/procter-gamble-awarded-19-25-million-in-satanism-lawsuit

  |archive-date = 2018-12-30

}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news

   | last = Kirdahy

   | url = https://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2007/03/22/procter-gamble-faces-markets-equity-cx_mk_0320autofacescan02.html

   | access-date =July 5, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070703004639/http://www.forbes.com/facesinthenews/2007/03/22/procter-gamble-faces-markets-equity-cx_mk_0320autofacescan02.html| archive-date= July 3, 2007 | url-status= dead}}</ref> On November 24, 2008, the case was officially settled.<ref>{{Cite news

  |access-date  = December 18, 2008

  |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081221214945/http://www.onpointnews.com/081216.asp

  |archive-date = December 21, 2008

}}</ref> "It's hard to imagine they'd pursue it this long, especially after all the retractions we put out," said distributor Randy Haugen, a 53-year-old Ogden, Utah, businessman who maintained P&G was never able to show how it was harmed by the rumors. "We are stunned. All of us."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/procter-gamble-wins-satanic-civil-suit/|title=Procter & Gamble Wins Satanic Civil Suit|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=March 20, 2007 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-09|archive-date=February 28, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228220724/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/procter-gamble-wins-satanic-civil-suit/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Category:Multi-level marketing companies]]

[[Category:Privately held companies based in Michigan]]

[[Category:Retail companies established in 1959]]