Shaklee

Shaklee Corporation
Type Private
Industry Wellness, Personal care,
Multi-level marketing
Founded 1956
Founder(s) Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee
Headquarters Pleasanton, California
Key people Roger Barnett, Chairman & CEO
Products Nutrition, Weight management, Beauty, Household
Revenue USD$148.7 million (2007).[1]
Website www.shaklee.com

Shaklee Corporation is a privately held manufacturer and distributor of nutritional supplements, weight-management products, beauty products, and household products. The company is based in Pleasanton, California with operations in Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan and China. The company sells its products through a multi-level marketing network and claims a combined base of 750,000 "members" (customers) and distributors.[2]

Contents

History

Founding

Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee, a San Francisco chiropractor, created "Shaklee's Vitalized Minerals" in 1915 before the concept of vitamins was fully understood. In 1956, Dr. Shaklee founded the Shaklee Corporation with his two sons to manufacture nutritional supplements.[3] Shaklee chose the relatively unknown multi-level marketing business model to market his product.[4] Starting in 1960, Dr. Shaklee began marketing organic, biodegradable cleaning products. He continually emphasized "natural" and "environmentally friendly" in his marketing messages, ideas which were not common at the time.[5]

Expansion, divestiture, changes of ownership

Shaklee Corporation was a publicly traded company in the late 1970s and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The corporation began to diversify in November 1986 when it purchased the Bear Creek Corporation, a direct marketing company best known for its Harry and David Fruit-of-the-Month Club operation, from RJR Nabisco for $123 million.[6] In February 1989 Shaklee sold its 78 percent interest in Shaklee Japan to the Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Company for $350 million, while maintaining its licensing agreement and continuing to collect royalty payments from the Japanese operations.[7] Then in March 1989, Shaklee Corporation received an unsolicited acquisition proposal from a group led by Irwin L. Jacobs, the Minneapolis financier known also by his nickname "Irv the Liquidator". Analysts placed the leveraged buyout value of Shaklee at $35 a share. The Jacobs group had been aggressively accumulating Shaklee shares, and disclosed it currently held a 14.98 percent stake in the San Francisco-based company. Shaklee immediately declared a special dividend of $20 a share, seen as a poison pill—a way to discourage takeover interest in Shaklee, though the company disputed that view. Shaklee's anti-takeover provisions come into play when an investor reaches 15 percent.[8] After a few tense weeks, during which time Jacobs increased his stake in Shaklee,[9] Shaklee Corporation announced it was being acquired by Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical for $28 a share in cash, or about $395 million. Yamanouchi's partnership with Shaklee in Japan helped make the transaction possible, and cast Yamanouchi as a "white knight" in helping Shaklee fend off the hostile takeover bid by Jacobs.[10] Jacobs announced he would not challenge the Yamanouchi bid[11] and the deal with Yamanouchi was quickly finalized.[12] Shaklee became a privately held company.

In April 2004, Yamanouchi sold Shaklee Corporation to American billionaire Roger Barnett, managing partner of Activated Holdings LLC, for $310 million. Bear Creek and the Harry and David line was sold to Wasserstein Perella & Co. for $260 million.[13] Barnett became the new CEO and Chairman of the Board of Shaklee Corporation. "Shaklee is the crown jewel of the network marketing industry," Barnett stated. "My dream is to build Shaklee into the number one company in the world in our field." Barnett went on to predict Shaklee would become the leading nutrition and natural personal care company in the world, generating $5 billion in annual revenues.[14]

In 2008, CEO & Chairman of the Board Roger Barnett announced a new president of Shaklee International, Bradford Richardson.[15]

Shaklee is committed to being green and is the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral™ certification to totally offset their CO2 emissions, resulting in a net zero impact on the environment (http://www.shaklee.com/company_home.shtml).

Reception

Shaklee's Scientifically Advanced Vita-Lea Iron Formula multivitamin was tested by ConsumerLab.com in their Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review of 38 of the leading multivitamin/multimineral products sold in the U.S. and Canada. The multivitamin passed ConsumerLab's test,[16] which included testing of selected index elements, their ability to disintegrate in solution per United States Pharmacopeia guidelines, lead contamination threshold set in California Proposition 65, and meeting U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling requirements.[17]

A landmark nutrition study published in the peer-reviewed Nutrition Journal (October 24, 2007) led by a Nobel Laureate in Nutrition compared users of Shaklee vitamins and supplements with users of leading multivitamins and people who took no vitamins or supplements over a 20 year period. The study showed Shaklee users "to have markedly better health as measured by higher blood levels of key nutrients, more optimal levels of key health biomarkers, and lower prevalence of diabetes and elevated blood pressure." As a group the Shaklee users "were 73% less likely to have diabetes and 39% less likely to have elevated blood pressure than non-users. Also, this group was less likely to have suboptimal blood nutrient concentrations, and more likely to have favorable levels of key biomarkers including serum homocysteine, C-reactive protein, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides than either non-users or multivitamin/mineral users." (http://www.shaklee.com/NewsRelease07_102907.shtml ... http://www.nutritionj.com/content/6/1/30)

Cycling team

From 1988-2000 Shaklee was the title sponsor of an American based UCI professional cycling team managed by Frank Scioscia. In its final year of existence (2000) Team Shaklee was the top-ranked UCI tier III team in the world and included United States Olympic Team members Jamie Carney, Jonas Carney, Adam Laurent, and Kent Bostick.

Customers

NASA

Beginning in 1993, Shaklee started providing NASA with a customized rehydration beverage for use by Shuttle astronauts[18] and its use continues today.

Olympic athletes

Some of the athletes that use Shaklee products are: Craig Blanchette, Laurie Brandt, Kent Bostick, Eli Bremer, Sandra Gal, Bill Demong, Kris Freeman, Zach Krych, Adam Moore, Reilley Rankin, Jennifer Rodriguez, Carl Rundell, Roz Savage, Darin Shapiro, and Ashley Wagner.[19]

Notes and references

  1. ^ "Yahoo Finance: Industry Center > Personal Products > Shaklee Corporation Company Profile". Yahoo Finance. http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/58/58882.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  2. ^ Shaklee Corporation: Providing a healthier life for everyone and a better life for anyone. Health, Wellness, Nature, Opportunity
  3. ^ "Dr. Forrest Shaklee; Founded Corporation". New York Times. 17 December 1985. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/17/us/dr-forrest-shaklee-founded-corporation.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  4. ^ "The History of MLM". First Class MLM. 11 November 2007. http://www.firstclassmlm.com/2007/12/11/the-history-of-mlm/. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  5. ^ "Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee and the Shaklee History". Shaklee Corporation. http://www.shaklee.com/news_presskit_founder.shtml. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  6. ^ "Shaklee to Buy RJR Nabisco Unit". New York Times. 4 November 1986. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/04/business/company-news-shaklee-to-buy-rjr-nabisco-unit.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  7. ^ "Shaklee to Sell Japanese Stake". New York Times. 3 February 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/03/business/company-news-shaklee-to-sell-japanese-stake.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  8. ^ Fisher, Lawrence M. (4 March 1989). "Shaklee Gets Takeover Offer From Jacobs". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/04/business/shaklee-gets-takeover-offer-from-jacobs.html?scp=2&sq=shaklee%20Irwin%20L.%20Jacobs&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  9. ^ "Jacobs Increases Stake in Shaklee". New York Times. 25 February 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/25/business/company-news-jacobs-increases-stake-in-shaklee.html?scp=5&sq=shaklee%20Irwin%20L.%20Jacobs&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  10. ^ Fisher, Lawrence M. (15 March 1989). "Japan Drug Maker to Buy Shaklee". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/14/business/japan-drug-maker-to-buy-shaklee.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  11. ^ "Jacobs Cuts Stake In Shaklee to 10.5%". New York Times. 15 March 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/15/business/company-news-jacobs-cuts-stake-in-shaklee-to-10.5.html?scp=5&sq=Yamanouchi%20Shaklee&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  12. ^ "Shaklee Offer Done". New York Times. 18 April 1989. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/18/business/company-news-shaklee-offer-done.html?scp=9&sq=Yamanouchi%20Shaklee&st=cse. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  13. ^ "Japanese Drug Company To Sell 4 Units, Including Shaklee". New York Times. 3 April 2004. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/03/business/company-news-japanese-drug-company-to-sell-4-units-including-shaklee.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  14. ^ "Shaklee Acquired By Activated Holdings in $310-Million MLM Deal". Nutrition Business Journal. 3 April 2004. http://subscribers.nutritionbusinessjournal.com/direct/shaklee-acquired-activated-holdings-0404/wall.html?return=http://subscribers.nutritionbusinessjournal.com/direct/shaklee-acquired-activated-holdings-0404/index.html. Retrieved 2009-06-21. 
  15. ^ "About Us: Bradford Richardson". Shaklee, Inc.. http://www.shaklee.com/company_lead_brichardson.shtml. Retrieved 2011-08-14. 
  16. ^ "ConsumerLab Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review - Main Review". 15 June 2011. https://www.consumerlab.com/reviews/Multivitamin_Multimineral_Supplements/multivitamins/. Retrieved 18 August 2011. (subscription required)
  17. ^ "ConsumerLab Multivitamin and Multimineral Supplements Review - Testing Method". 15 June 2011. https://www.consumerlab.com/howtested/review_multivitamin_compare/multivitamins/. Retrieved 18 August 2011. 
  18. ^ http://technology.arc.nasa.gov/docs/ARC11943_rehyrdration_white_paper.pdf
  19. ^ http://athletes.shaklee.com/us/en/welcome.html#/TeamShaklee

External links