. acn llc acn one world one vision type private industry telecommunications founded incorporated 1993 headquarters concord north carolina usa key people robert stevanovski chairman gregory provenzano president anthony cupisz vp michael cupisz vp chip barker ceo 1 2 products landline wireless broadband revenue us 700 million 2013 3 4 website www.acninc.com acn llc formerly acn inc. is a north american based multi level marketing mlm company which provides telecommunications energy merchant services and other services depending on the country through a network of independent sales agents known as independent business owners ibos who themselves can recruit new people as sales agents . ibos earn residual income and bonuses through the acquisition of personal customers as well as customers by other ibos they recruit . based in concord north carolina united states acn began operations in the united states in 1993 as an american communications network . it extended operations to europe in 1999 to the pacific in 2006 to asia in 2011 and now operates in 24 countries on four continents . 5 as a reflection of its international operations it changed its name to just the initial letters acn . citation needed the company is a member of the direct selling associations in north america 6 7 and europe . 8 contents 1 company structure 2 history 3 services 4 criticism 4.1 legal cases 4.2 trump s status as spokesman 5 references 6 external links 6.1 official acn websites company structure edit the company is based in concord north carolina united states . acn has international offices located in montreal quebec canada ; amsterdam the netherlands ; sydney australia ; wroc aw poland ; ume sweden ; seoul south korea and mexico history edit in 1993 robert stevanovski greg provenzano and twin brothers tony and mike cupisz founded the american communications network inc. acn opened for business in january 1993 with twenty initial independent representatives . acn s initial business was as a marketing arm for a long distance reseller called lci communications . this relationship lasted for five years until lci was acquired by qwest communications . 2 by 1998 acn was listed in inc. magazine s inc. 500 list as no. 22 in this annual list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in america . 9 formerly acn through the subsidiaries acn energy and acn utility services operated as a gas and electricity retailer . acn s energy assets were acquired by commerce energy group in 2006 . 10 from 2006 until he announced his presidential candidacy in 2015 acn had a business relationship with multi billionaire and former the apprentice executive producer donald trump . he has spoken at acn international training events at which he has praised the company s founders business model and video phone . 11 12 in 2008 acn moved its headquarters from farmington hills michigan to concord north carolina . 13 14 in 2011 acn expanded operation to the czech republic and hungary bringing the company s reach to 23 countries on four continents . citation needed in 2014 acn expanded operations to latin america beginning first with mexico . services edit acn offers landline telephone service local and long distance voice over internet protocol voip high speed internet satellite television cellular phone through the company s own mvno . flash wireless and home security services primarily to consumers and secondarily to small businesses . beginning in 2011 acn also began offering an acn branded international calling smartphone app available for iphone android and symbian reselling wimax wireless internet and technical support service for personal and business computers as well as getting back into the energy reselling market through partner xoom energy . 15 with variations depending upon the country of operation provision of acn s services follows three models the reselling of acn branded services ultimately originating in an incumbent provider . this is exemplified by local and long distance telephone where acn buys local telephone service from an incumbent provider such as qwest or at & t and bills customers in its own name . this model was made possible by telephone industry deregulation beginning in 1996 ; prior to this acn was involved solely in reselling long distance telephone service . it was the expansion of deregulation internationally that made it possible for acn to begin to operate outside the united states . acting as a sales agent for the service provider where an acn representative sells the service but order fulfillment billing and servicing is performed by the branded provider . in the us acn resells internet service through at & t. acn offers wireless services through its own mnvo flash wireless . television services are provided through directv and dish network . home security and automation is offered through vivint . 16 acn now also resells energy electricity and natural gas through planet energy and xoom energy . the selling of acn branded and provided services . these are voice over internet protocol 17 in which acn owns and maintains its own network of servers . starting in january 2011 acn has also added an acn branded computer technical support service to its service offerings . 18 criticism edit in following the laws applicable to the direct selling industry acn s income disclosure statement bears the warning that not all acn independent representatives make a profit and no one can be guaranteed success as an acn independent representative . 19 in response to criticism posted on the internet acn s global general counsel colleen jones states that acn is aware of the bad press that s out there on the internet and we pretty much ignore it . 20 legal cases edit in august 2010 the montana commissioner of securities and insurance monica lindeen announced the issuance of a cease and desist order and notice of proposed agency action against acn inc. and several of its founders for allegedly operating a pyramid scheme . 21 in september 2010 the commissioner moved to vacate the cease and desist order in full settlement of the case . 22 in the course of the commissioner s investigation the commissioner determined that the actions giving rise to the initial concerns were not part of the acn business model but instead were isolated instances taking place by certain acn s independent representatives in montana . the commissioner and acn agreed that acn would implement additional training with its independent representatives to assist them in better understanding their responsibilities as acn independent representatives and that acn would contact its montana video phone customers to assist them with installation of their service . 23 on june 13 2002 acn settled a case with the bureau of consumer services in pennsylvania wherein it was alleged that a small number of ibos were slamming or switching consumer services without authorization . acn disputed the allegations and the exact details of the settlement are under court seal . however the suit alleged that approximately 135 informal complaints were filed with the bureau of consumer services bcs between june 2000 and november 2001 consisting of 22 consumers alleging that their generation service was switched without authorization slamming 81 alleged instances of overcharging cramming and 32 complaints with allegations of various violations of the commission s regulations contained in chapter 54 56 and 57 of title 52 of the pennsylvania code . 24 trump s status as spokesman edit following the official beginning of his 2016 presidential candidacy all references to donald trump were removed from the acn website and trump distanced himself from the company in an interview with the wall street journal . i know nothing about the company other than the people who run the company trump told them . i m not familiar with what they do or how they go about doing it and i make that clear in my speeches . following the publication of the article which also claimed that few participants in its sales representative program actually made money acn issued a statement that it was a biased story that reflected the opinions of the reporters rather than the facts on acn or our relationship with mr. trump . 25 references edit acn communication services inc. company information from hoover s . hoover s. archived from the original on july 13 2007 . retrieved july 9 2015 . a b seale barbara . company spotlight acn . direct selling news . retrieved september 20 2007 . dead link top 100 direct selling companies by revenue . retrieved march 7 2015 . acn business is booming . direct selling news . archived from the original on december 5 2010 . acn inc december 2005 . tapping the network . archived from the original on 7 june 2012 . retrieved july 16 2012 . dsa . acn . archived from the original on february 18 2009 . retrieved january 27 2009 . dsa canada . acn canada . archived from the original on january 23 2009 . retrieved january 27 2009 . wfdsa . acneuro . retrieved january 27 2009 . dead link inc. magazine . the inc 500 . retrieved september 20 2007 . dead link commerce energy group inc february 10 2005 . item 2.01 . completion of acquisition or disposition of assets form 8 k . retrieved september 6 2007 . acn & donald j. trump . acn inc. archived from the original on january 14 2013 . retrieved july 26 2015 . donald j. trump on acn s home based business . retrieved july 20 2012 . telecom company acn moves to concord . charlotte business journal . february 26 2008 . retrieved october 10 2010 . acn contact information . acn . retrieved october 10 2010 . acn products . acn . archived from the original on april 29 2011 . retrieved april 9 2011 . acn high speed internet . retrieved july 20 2012 . acn digital phone . acn . retrieved july 12 2009 . acn premium technical support . acn . retrieved january 19 2011 . acn inc. 2010 . acn income potential compensation plan . archived from the original on may 23 2010 . retrieved may 20 2010 . acn commitment to integrity video . acn . retrieved march 5 2012 . temporary cease and desist and opportunity for hearing motion to vacate temporary cease and desist order mt regulators acn settle pyramid scheme investigation . kxlh . october 12 2010 . retrieved february 17 2014 . pennsylvania public utility commission v. acn energy inc. . pennsylvania public utility commission . june 12 2002 . retrieved december 24 2008 . report donald trump made millions from concord company acn . charlotte observer . 2015 08 13 . retrieved september 18 2015 . external links edit official acn websites edit official website acn legal advisory committee acn products and services acn european website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title acn inc. & oldid 744436369 categories companies established in 1993multi level marketing companiestelecommunications companiesdirect marketingprivately held companiesprivately held companies based in north carolinahidden 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