multi level marketing founded november 9 1959 founder rich devos jay van andel headquarters ada michigan united states area served worldwide key people steve van andel chairman doug devos president products amway home glister g & h nutrilite artistry amwayqueen espring atmosphere xs energy ... revenue us 9.5 billion 2015 1 number of employees 21 000 as of 2014 2 parent alticor website www.amwayglobal.com amway short for the american way is an american company that uses a multi level marketing model to sell a variety of products primarily in the health beauty and home care markets . 3 4 5 amway was founded in 1959 by jay van andel and richard devos . based in ada michigan the company and family of companies under alticor reported sales of 9.5 billion for 2015 the second consecutive year of decline for the company . 1 its product lines include home care products personal care products jewelry electronics nutrilite dietary supplements water purifiers air purifiers insurance and cosmetics . it has been several times subject of investigation in various countries for alleged pyramid scheme related practices by institutions like the united states federal trade commission ftc but such accusations have been later been disregarded . 6 7 8 9 10 amway conducts business through a number of affiliated companies in more than a hundred countries and territories around the world ranked no. 29 among the largest private companies in the united states by forbes in 2015 and no. 1 in multi level marketing by direct selling news . 11 12 13 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 international expansion 1.3 quixtar 2 global markets 2.1 amway australia 2.2 amway china 3 brands 3.1 household cleaners 3.2 health and beauty 3.2.1 artistry 3.2.2 nutrilite 3.3 espring 3.4 xs 4 ditto delivery 5 business model 6 commercial sponsorships 7 politics and culture 7.1 political contributions 7.2 religion 7.3 chamber of commerce 7.4 accreditation program 8 pyramid scheme accusations 8.1 ftc investigation 8.2 amway india andhra pradesh and kerala 8.3 u.s. class action settlement 8.4 class action in canada 9 other legal actions 9.1 canadian tax fraud case 9.2 riaa lawsuit 9.3 amway uk 9.4 welcome to life poland 9.5 dr. phil and shape up 9.6 procter & gamble 10 other issues 10.1 cultism 10.2 dateline nbc 11 see also 12 references 13 books 14 documentaries 15 external links 15.1 government documents history edit founding edit amway japan head office amway vietnam h ch minh since 2008 jay van andel and rich devos friends since school days had been business partners in various endeavors including a hamburger stand air charter service and a sailing business . in 1949 they were introduced by neil maaskant van andel s second cousin to the nutrilite products corporation . nutrilite was a california based direct sales company founded by carl rehnborg developer of the first multivitamin marketed in the united states . in august 1949 after a night long talk devos and van andel signed up to become distributors for nutrilite food supplements . 14 page needed they sold their first box the next day for 19.50 but lost interest for the next two weeks . shortly thereafter at the urging of maaskant who had become their sponsor they traveled to chicago to attend a nutrilite seminar . the meeting was at a downtown hotel with over a hundred people in attendance . after seeing promotional filmstrips and listening to talks by company representatives and successful distributors they decided to pursue the nutrilite business opportunity with enthusiasm . they sold their second box of supplements on their return trip to michigan and rapidly proceeded to develop their new business further . 14 page needed in 1949 devos and van andel had formed ja ri corporation abbreviated from their respective first names for importing wooden goods from south american countries . after their trip to the nutrilite seminar they dropped clarification needed this business and ja ri became their nutrilite distributorship . 15 in addition to profits on each product sold nutrilite also offered commission on the sales of products by new distributors introduced to the company by existing distributors a system today known as multi level marketing or network marketing . by 1958 devos and van andel had built an organization of over 5 000 distributors . however following concerns about the stability of nutrilite in april 1959 they and some of their top distributors formed the american way association to represent the distributors and look for additional products to market . 16 their first product was called frisk a concentrated organic cleaner developed by a scientist in ohio . devos and van andel bought the rights to manufacture and distribute frisk and later changed the name to loc liquid organic cleaner . 17 they subsequently formed amway sales corporation to procure and inventory products and to handle the sales and marketing plan and amway services corporation to handle insurance and other benefits for distributors amway being an abbreviation of american way . 18 in 1960 they purchased a 50 % share in atco manufacturing company in detroit the original manufacturers of loc and changed its name to amway manufacturing corporation . 19 in 1964 the amway sales corporation amway services corporation and amway manufacturing corporation merged to form a single entity amway corporation . 20 amway bought control of nutrilite in 1972 and full ownership in 1994 . 21 international expansion edit amway expanded overseas to australia in 1971 to europe in 1973 to parts of asia in 1974 to japan in 1979 to latin america in 1985 to thailand in 1987 to china in 1995 to africa in 1997 to india and scandinavia in 1998 to ukraine in 2003 to russia in 2005 and to vietnam in 2008 . citation needed quixtar edit main article amway global in 1999 the founders of the amway corporation established a new holding company named alticor and launched three new companies a sister and separate internet focused company named quixtar access business group and pyxis innovations . pyxis later replaced by fulton innovation pursued research and development and access business group handled manufacturing and logistics for amway quixtar and third party clients . 22 the main difference was that all independent business owners ibo could order directly from amway on the internet rather than from their upline direct distributor and have products shipped directly to their home . the amway name continued being used in the rest of the world . after virtually all amway distributors in north america switched to quixtar alticor elected to close amway north america after 2001 . in june 2007 it was announced that the quixtar brand would be phased out over an 18 to 24 month period in favor of a unified amway brand amway global worldwide . in 2006 quixtar published the quixtar independent business owner compensation plan in which the company reported that the average monthly gross income for active ibos was 115 . 23 global markets edit according to the amway website as of 2011 update the company operates in over 100 countries and territories organized into regional markets the americas europe greater china japan and korea and se asia australia . the top 10 markets for amway in 2015 were china south korea united states japan thailand russia taiwan malaysia india and ukraine . 1 in 2008 alticor announced that two thirds of the company s 58 markets reported sales increases including strong growth in the china russia ukraine and india markets . 24 amway australia edit see amway australia pty ltd amway china edit amway grew quickly in china from its market launch in 1995 . in 1998 after abuses of illegal pyramid schemes led to riots the chinese government enacted a ban on all direct selling companies including amway . 25 after the negotiations some companies like amway avon and mary kay continued to operate through a network of retail stores promoted by an independent sales force . 26 china introduced new direct selling laws in december 2005 and in december 2006 amway was one of the first companies to receive a license to resume direct sales . however the law forbids teachers doctors and civil servants from becoming direct sales agents for the company and unlike in the united states salespeople in china are ineligible to receive commissions from sales made by the distributors they recruit . in 2006 amway china had a reported 180 000 sales representatives 140 stores and 2 billion in annual sales . 27 in 2007 amway greater china and south east asia chief executive eva cheng was ranked no. 88 by forbes magazine in its list of the world s most powerful women . 28 in 2008 china was amway s largest market reporting 28 % growth and sales of 17 billion yuan us 2.5 billion . 29 according to a report in bloomberg businessweek in april 2010 amway had 237 retail shops in china 160 000 direct sales agents and 3 billion in revenue . 30 brands edit amway s product line grew from loc with the laundry detergent sa8 added in 1960 and later the hair care product satinique 1965 and the cosmetics line artistry 1968 . today amway manufactures over 450 products with manufacturing facilities in china india and the united states as well as nutrilite organic farms in brazil mexico and the united states california and washington state . amway brands include artistry atmosphere body blends bodykey body works clear now espring glister brand glister icook legacy of clean nutrilite peter island perfect empowered drinking water personal accents ribbon satinique artistry men and xs . in 2015 the vitamins and weight management products accounted for 46 percent of alticor s sales . beauty and personal care products represented 25 percent of sales while durable products such as espring water treatment systems and atmosphere air treatment systems represented 16 percent of sales . home care products generated 7 percent of sales . 1 according to euromonitor international amway sells more products with a satisfaction guarantee than any other direct seller . 31 household cleaners edit amway is best known in north america for its original multi purpose cleaning product loc sa8 laundry detergent and dish drops dishwashing liquid . in the january 2007 issue of consumer reports sa8 with bioquest was rated the best performing laundry detergent scoring 99 out of a possible 100 points . 32 consumer reports did however criticize sa8 s pricing a situation which was disputed by amway . 33 consumer reports conducted blind testing of detergents in 2010 and ranked versions of amway s legacy of clean detergents 9th and 18th of 20 detergents tested . consumer reports program manager pat slaven recommended against buying the products because consumers can go to the grocery store and get something that performs a whole lot better for a whole lot less money . 34 35 health and beauty edit amway s health and beauty brands include artistry satinique hymm body series glister moiskin south america 36 nutrilite nutriway scandinavia and australia new zealand attitude india espring atmosphere and icook as well as xl and xs energy drinks . other amway brands that were discontinued or replaced include tolsom eddie funkhouser new york or beautycycle eastern europe . artistry edit main article artistry cosmetics amway s artistry products include skin care cosmetics and anti aging creams and serums . in 2011 artistry brand reached sales of 2.8 billion . 37 according to euromonitor international the artistry brand was among the world s top five largest selling premium skincare brands and among world s top ten largest selling premium cosmetic brands in 2014 2015 . 31 nutrilite edit main article 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 . 38 in 2001 five nutrilite products were the first dietary supplements to be certified by nsf international . 39 in 2006