Editing Amway (section)

==History==

===Founding===
[[File:Amway Japan Head Office.jpg|thumb|upright|Amway Japan head office]]
[[File:Honda- Amway アムウェイベトナム（AVCL）Hồ Chí Minh PB277728.jpg|thumb|upright|Amway Vietnam (Hồ Chí Minh City)]]

Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos had been friends since school days and business partners in various endeavors, including a hamburger stand, an air charter service, and a sailing business. In 1949, they were introduced to the Nutrilite Products Corporation<ref>A California-based direct sales company founded by Carl Rehnborg, the developer of the first [[multivitamin]] marketed in the United States</ref> by Van Andel's second cousin Neil Maaskant. DeVos and Van Andel signed up to become distributors for [[Nutrilite]] [[food supplement]]s in August.<ref name="Conn">{{cite book |last=Conn |first=Charles Paul |title=The Possible Dream: A Candid Look At Amway |author-link=Charles Paul Conn |publisher=[[Revell]] |year=1977 |isbn=0-8007-0857-1}}</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2010}} They sold their first box the next day for $19.50, but lost interest for the next two weeks. They traveled to Chicago to attend a Nutrilite seminar soon afterward, at the urging of Maaskant, who had become their sponsor. They watched promotional filmstrips and listened to talks by company representatives and successful distributors, then they decided to pursue the Nutrilite business. They sold their second box of supplements on their return trip to Michigan, and rapidly proceeded to develop the business further.<ref name="Conn" />{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}

Earlier in 1949, DeVos and Van Andel had formed the Ja-Ri Corporation (abbreviated from their respective first names) to import wooden goods from South American countries. After the Chicago seminar, they turned Ja-Ri into a Nutrilite distributorship instead.<ref>{{cite book |last=Van Andel |first=Jay |title=An Enterprising Life |author-link=Jay Van Andel |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |year=1998 |isbn=0-88730-997-6 |pages=37–39}}</ref> In addition to profits on each product sold, Nutrilite offered [[Commission (remuneration)|commissions]] on sales made by new distributors introduced to the company by existing distributors—a system known as [[multi-level marketing]] or network marketing. By 1958, DeVos and Van Andel had built an organization of more than 5,000 distributors. However, they and some of their top distributors formed the American Way Association, or Amway, in April 1959 in response to concerns about the stability of Nutrilite and in order to represent the distributors and look for additional products to market.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=James W. |title=Empire of Freedom: The Amway Story and What It Means to You |publisher=[[Prima Publishing]] |year=1997 |isbn=0-7615-1088-5 |page=11}}</ref>

Their first product was called Frisk, an 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).<ref>{{cite video |title=Profiles of the American Dream: Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel and the Remarkable Beginnings of Amway |medium=Documentary |publisher=Premiere Films |date=1997}}</ref> They subsequently formed the Amway Sales Corporation to procure and inventory products and to handle sales and marketing plans, and the Amway Services Corporation to handle insurance and other benefits for distributors.<ref>[[Bill Hybels]] interview with [[Rich DeVos]] at the {{ill|Willow Creek Association|lt=Willow Creek Association's|no|Willow Creek Norge}} [[Global Leadership Summit]] in 2000</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Van Andel|first=Jay |title=An Enterprising Life |author-link=Jay Van Andel |publisher=HarperCollins |year=1998 |isbn=0-88730-997-6 |pages=58–60}}</ref> In 1964, the Amway Sales Corporation, Amway Services Corporation, and Amway Manufacturing Corporation merged to form the Amway Corporation.<ref name="MLMLAW">From MLM Law Library: [http://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/ftc/amway.htm FTC Final Order from May 8, 1979 (93 F.T.C. 618)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015182742/http://www.mlmlaw.com/library/cases/mlm/ftc/amway.htm |date=October 15, 2008}}.</ref>

Amway bought a controlling interest in Nutrilite in 1972<ref>{{cite news|title=Ahead of Its Time Health Care: Nutrilite founder worked on the first food supplements in the 1920s; the company is now owned by Amway |first=Anne |last=Michaud |newspaper=Orange County Register |page=C01 |date=December 29, 1994}}</ref> and full ownership in 1994.

===International expansion===
Amway expanded to Australia in 1971, to parts of 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,<ref>{{cite web|title=安利在华小心翼翼自我洗白 中国区业绩已连续3年下滑|url=http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2018-01-26/doc-ifyqyesy2164667.shtml |website=finance.sina.com.cn |date=January 26, 2018 |access-date=2018-05-26 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180526060610/http://finance.sina.com.cn/chanjing/gsnews/2018-01-26/doc-ifyqyesy2164667.shtml |archive-date=May 26, 2018 |language=zh-cn |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref> to Africa in 1997, to India and Scandinavia in 1998, to [[Ukraine]] in 2003, to Russia in 2005,<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--not stated-->|collaboration=Business Journal Staff|title=Alticor Opens 'Amway Russia'|newspaper=Grand Rapids Business Journal|location=Grand Rapids, MI|publisher=Gemini Media, LLC|agency=ADA|date=21 March 2005|url=https://grbj.com/uncategorized/alticor-opens-amway-russia/|access-date=January 17, 2023|archive-date=December 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212092418/https://grbj.com/uncategorized/alticor-opens-amway-russia/|url-status=live}}</ref> and to [[Vietnam]] in 2008.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.grbj.com/articles/73124 |title=Amway Corp is World Trader of the Year again |first=Pete |last=Daly |date=April 29, 2011 |website=Grand Rapids Business Journal |access-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140219114654/http://www.grbj.com/articles/73124 |archive-date=February 19, 2014 |url-status=dead |url-access=limited}}</ref>

In 2014, a Russian loyalty card program called "Alfa-Amway" was created when Amway joined with [[Alfa-Bank]].<ref name=Filkins2018.10.15>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/was-there-a-connection-between-a-russian-bank-and-the-trump-campaign |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012025116/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/10/15/was-there-a-connection-between-a-russian-bank-and-the-trump-campaign |archive-date=October 12, 2018 |title=Was There a Connection Between a Russian Bank and the Trump Campaign? A team of computer scientists sifted through records of unusual Web traffic in search of answers |first=Dexter |last=Filkins |author-link=Dexter Filkins |date=October 8, 2018 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=12 October 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

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===
{{main|Amway Global}}
The founders of the Amway corporation established a new holding company in 1999, 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706130458 |title=Amway marque to be revived; Quixtar label scrapped |newspaper=The Detroit News |access-date=July 9, 2011}}</ref>

The main difference was that each "Independent Business Owner" (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. Virtually all Amway distributors in North America switched to Quixtar, prompting Alticor to close Amway North America after 2001. In June 2007, it was announced that the Quixtar brand would be phased out over an eighteen– to twenty-four–month period in favor of a unified Amway brand ([[Amway Global]]) worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/21/image-overhaul-rebranding-cmo-network-rebranding.html#d0f7b33788fa |title=Companies Seek A Fresh Start With New Names |last=Coster |first=Helen |date=21 August 2009 |website=Forbes |access-date=2020-02-20 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309210042/https://www.forbes.com/2009/08/21/image-overhaul-rebranding-cmo-network-rebranding.html#d0f7b33788fa |url-status=live }}</ref>