Herbalife

Herbalife Nutrition Ltd., also called Herbalife International, Inc. (with a U.S. subsidiary called Herbalife International of America) or simply Herbalife, is an American multinational multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary supplements. The company was founded by Mark R. Hughes in 1980, and employs an estimated 9,900 people worldwide. The company operates in 95 countries through a network of approximately 4.5 million independent distributors and members. In October 2022, previous CEO Michael O. Johnson was appointed as chairman and interim chief executive officer following the departure of John Agwunobi. The business is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven, with its corporate headquarters located in Los Angeles, California. Herbalife has been accused of fraudulently operating a pyramid scheme, deceiving distributors about the amount of income they could expect to earn and that most of their income would be made from recruiting additional distributors instead of from selling merchandise. The company agreed to "fundamentally restructure" its compensation and other benefits in the United States to include tying distributor rewards to verifiable sales, and pay a $200 million fine as part of a 2016 settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) following these accusations. According to a 2007 research paper, some products sold by Herbalife have caused acute hepatitis.