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Company Profile - Amway Corporation

7575 Fulton St. East
Ada, MI 49355-0001

Phone: 616-767-1000
Fax: 616- 682-4000
Website: www.amway.com

Key Facts

Amway’s parent company is Alticor, whose group of companies posted global sales totaling $4.5 billion for fiscal year 2002.
The lion’s share of revenue comes from outside of North America; roughly 70 percent of non-North American sales come from Asia.
More than 3.6 million distributors sell Amway products in more than 80 countries and territories.

Personnel Highlights
Number of employees: 6,000

Company Overview
Amway Corporation is one of the largest direct-sales companies in the world. Founded in Ada, Michigan, in 1959 and privately owned by Richard DeVos, Jay Van Andel, and their families, the company's success is due to the simple concept of giving individuals the opportunity to start their own businesses selling Amway products.

Amway is also considered one of the most recognized traditional names associated with multilevel marketing. The corporation markets and sells more than 450 different products, including health and beauty aids, laundry detergent, vitamins, cookware, flatware, and dinnerware. In addition to having established markets in more than 80 countries, Amway’s reach now extends into Asia and Eastern Europe. Amway Japan and Amway Asia Pacific were both taken private in 2000.

In 1999, the company began marketing its products online through Quixtar, a dot com that offers partnership opportunities to independent business owners. As the Internet economy tanked, Quixtar stayed afloat; however, Amway announced plans to lay off about 1,300 employees (11 percent of its workforce).

In 2000, DeVos and Van Andel created parent company Alticor, which controls Amway, Quixtar, and Access Business Group, in order to expand the business outside of the direct-sales industry.

Major Line of Business : Retail

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