Herbalife Grew From A Humble Beginning To A Multi Billion Dollar Empire
Sunday, September 5th, 2010Herbalife International is an inter-continental weight-loss, nutrition and skin-care company. It began in 1980 and now has 4,000 full time employees across the globe. It achieved worldwide sales of 2.3 billion US dollars in 2009. The headquarters are in the USA city of Los Angeles.
The products are available in 73 countries. Selling is done through a network of two million commission based representatives. Not only do they earn commission on sales, but many are part of an MLM system. This is the abbreviation for multi-level marketing.
The company had a humble start. The founder, Mark Hughes, filled the trunk of his vehicle with his new weight loss product and set off to sell it. He frequently said that he began the business because of his mother’s weight problem. He believed that she died because of dangerous weight loss methods and an eating disorder.
Using the MLM system for growth and distribution, the company obtained thousands of distributors who were willing to sell the products through word of mouth and on a door-to-door basis. Hughes did not want to distribute to retail stores. The slogan, ‘Lose Weight Now, Ask Me How’, became the company’s marketing theme. Distributors used this on advertising posters, flyers and badges.
In the early days, the recruitment of agents was done by holding seminars that were presented by existing agents. They would talk about their successes and give testimonials on the products. Hughes gave a personal address at each seminar.
The company turnover in 1982 was two million US dollars thanks to its expansion into Canada. It became a member of NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) in 1986. Then, 10 years down the line, in 1996, sales rocketed to one billion US dollars.
Mark Hughes died in 2002 at the age of 44. The autopsy results revealed that his death was caused by an overdose of an anti-depressant medication. In addition, a large amount of alcohol was in his system.
After his death, Herbalife was acquired by Golden Gate Capital and Whitney & Co LLC, at a price of 685 million US dollars. It continued growing from strength to strength. A year later, Michael O Johnson was appointed CEO of the company. He left a successful 17 year career with The Walt Disney Company to take up the position.
Being a man with a strong awareness of social responsibility, Hughes set up a non-profit corporation in 1994. It is called the Herbalife Family Foundation (HFF). The aim is to provide impoverished children with healthy food. To this day, it is still supporting charities with a like-minded vision.
To further this cause, HFF set up the Casa Herbalife program in 2005. It partnered with charities that focused on children who were not receiving good nutrition. The program was named after an orphanage that the HFF built during 1998 in Brazil. Today, there are 52 similar programs operating on six continents.
HFF frequently participates in relief efforts to help people affected by natural disasters. In addition to these efforts, Herbalife also sponsors many sports teams, athletes and sports events around the world. The list is far too long to mention, but it can be viewed on the internet.
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