Nu Skin Enterprises
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Allie Hunt | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: NUS) |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Provo, Utah |
| Key people | Blake M. Roney, Chairman M. Truman Hunt, President & CEO Sandie N. Tillotson, Senior VP Ritch N. Wood, CFO Joseph Y. Chang, CSO, Executive VP Product Development |
| Industry | List of network marketing companies |
| Products | Nu Skin Pharmanex Photomax Force for Good Foundation Nourish the Children |
| Revenue | $1.115 billion USD (2006) [1] |
| Employees | 10,014 (July 2005) |
| Website | www.nuskinenterprises.com |
Nu Skin Enterprises (pronounced new skin)NYSE: NUS is an American direct selling company, that sells cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and technology services. It was founded by Nedra Dee Roney and Blake M. Roney in 1984 and officially listed in the NYSE in 1996.
After 12 years of substantial growth, the company went public in 1996 when it listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Initially only the Nu Skin Asia Pacific company was listed, however, shortly afterwards all the remaining affiliates were sold to the new entity and the company was a fully-fledged public company.
Nu Skin Enterprises 2005 revenue reached approximately $1.2 billion in annual sales[1] in 44 international markets. The Nu Skin brand has a line of more than 100 skin treatment and other personal care products. In 2005, approximately 82 percent of revenues were generated from markets in Asia.
In 2005, through its Big Planet division, the company launched a new Internet-based service called Photomax.
Nu Skin Enterprises also runs a non-profit humanitarian organization called the Nu Skin Force for Good Foundation. The foundation's stated mission is to "create a better world for children by improving human life, continuing indigenous cultures, and protecting fragile environments."
Truman Hunt, CEO of NSE, was the Chair of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations in 2007. This organization, an umbrella group for individual countries' organizations, oversees the direct selling industry globally.
[edit] Criticism
On his website, one critic has alleged that Nu Skin Enterprises is a "recruiting MLM" that "rewards recruitment more than actual sales of products", and has "a high loss rate." [2] Other critics claim that more than half of the company's distributors quit within a single year [3].
On the legal front, in 1997 the company agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges over fat-loss, muscle-maintenance and other unsubstantiated claims it made for supplements containing chromium picolinate and L-carnitine.[4]
The Better Business Bureau, on the other hand, reports that the company has a "satisfactory record with the Bureau," signifying that the company "does not have an unusual volume of complaints, or any government actions involving its marketplace conduct."[5]
