Shaklee Corporation

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Shaklee Corporation is a privately-held maker and distributor of environmentally-friendly cleaning products, nutritional supplements, skin care products and filtration products. The company is based in Pleasanton, California with operations in Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and Taiwan. The company sells its products through a multi-level marketing network and claims a combined base of 750,000 "members" (customers) and distributors.

Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee, a San Francisco chiropractor, first began selling "Shaklee's Vitalized Minerals" in 1915. In 1956, Dr. Shaklee founded the Shaklee Corporation with his two sons to manufacture nutritional supplements. Starting in the 1960s, Shaklee began marketing organic, biodegradeable cleaning products and has continually emphasized "natural" and environmentally-friendly products in its marketing messages.

The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the late 1970s. In 1989, it was acquired by the Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Company of Japan. Yamanouchi was already partnering with Shaklee in Japan and acted as a "white knight" in helping the company fend off a hostile takeover bid by investor Irwin L. Jacobs. In 2004, Yamanouchi sold the company to private investors in the U.S. for $310 million.