Herbalife

In February 1980, Mark Hughes began selling the original Herbalife weight loss product from the trunk of his car. Hughes passion for the products and program stemmed from the weight loss concerns of his mother, whose death he attributed to an eating disorder and an unhealthy approach to weight loss. The company's slogan -- "Lose weight now. Ask me how?" became a burgeoning call sign for its distributors, who often wore buttons or otherwise adorned their vehicles with the slogan, or posted signs and distributed flyers with the slogan, and a distributor's telephone number. Adopting the Network Marketing/Multi Level Marketing(MLM) system for distribution and growth, the company attracted thousands of would-be entrepreneurs who sold its products on a door-to-door or word-of-mouth campaign.
By 1982, Herbalife had reached $2,000,000 in sales and opened a distributorship in Canada, its first outside of the United States. In 1986 Herbalife became a publicly traded company via NASDAQ. In 1994 Mark Hughes started the Herbalife Family Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping children around the world. The organization receives donations from Herbalife itself as well as individuals within and outside the company. The Herbalife Family Foundation has donated more than $6.5 million to children's causes worldwide. In 1996 Herbalife reached $1,000,000,000 in annual sales.

In 2002, Whitney and Co. LLC and Golden Gate Capital acquired Herbalife for $685 million and took the company private.

In April 2003, Michael O. Johnson joined Herbalife as CEO following a 17-year career with The Walt Disney Company, most recently as president of Walt Disney International. On December 16, 2004, the company had an initial public offering on the NYSE of 14,500,000 common shares at $14/share. 2004 net sales were reported as $1.3 billion. In April 2005, the company celebrated its 25th anniversary with a four-day event attended by 35,000 Herbalife Independent Distributors from around the world.