What is Amway stock price, and are they publicly traded? Unfortunately, investors cannot purchase shares of Amway because they’re a private company. However, Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), Usana Health Sciences (NYSE: USNA), and Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS) are some MLM companies that traders can invest in.
Despite regularly being in America’s top 50 largest privately owned companies, Amway has never opted to bring itself to the public markets. While Amway is family-owned, becoming a publicly traded company also means complete transparency for shareholders. As well as ceding some control of the company to institutional investors.
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Amway Introduction (No Stock Symbol)
Amway stands for American Way and is a multi-level marketing company specializing in selling home goods, cosmetics, health, beauty products, and more. Even if you’ve never seen or heard of Amway, you’re familiar with some brands that fall under its corporate umbrella.
Amway was founded in 1959 in Ada, Michigan, by two extremely successful Nutrilite distributors, Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. So Nutrilite is probably the first brand you’ll recognize under Amway’s control. And as far as global reach, it is the most well-known. There are numerous other brands under Nutrilite’s control.
We’ll go through them later in the article, but now you know what kind of corporation Amway is. You may be surprised to hear that despite its name being the short form of American Way, Amway operates in over 100 countries worldwide, with over 16,000 employees and a reported $8.4 billion in revenue in 2019.
But at its core, it’s the industry that Amway is in and how it does its business that often has people raising their eyebrows, which is probably why there’s no Amway stock.
What Is a Pyramid Scheme?
On the surface, Amway could be classified as a pyramid scheme. However, the loophole it uses is that while the corporate structure resembles a pyramid, Amway actively sells real products and pays for its recruitment.
Typically, a pyramid scheme sees the members at the top profiting off of the work of everyone who joins after them. Each new member recruits additional members.
As a result, the commissions and sales continue to trickle up through the organization until everyone above those new members is paid.
For true pyramid schemes, the lowest members often fail to generate any profit and inevitably quit, which eventually causes the entire structure of the organization to crumble.
In the United States, pyramid schemes are illegal and punishable by up to four years in prison or a hefty fine.
You could say Amway is almost like penny stock promoters. If there was an Amway stock, we might not like the investors if they treated it like a penny stock pump and dump.
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Is Amway a Pyramid Scheme?
Yes and no. The answer probably depends on which side of your fence regarding multi-level marketing companies. More often than not, people will dismiss brands like Nutrilite or XS Energy as pyramid schemes rather than products sold and distributed in non-traditional ways. While it’s easy to label something illegitimate, it should be noted that Amway has never been found to be doing anything illegal. Nor have they been guilty of running a pyramid scheme by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other governing bodies in other countries. Of course, it would be good if there ever is an Amway stock.
Amway Stock Competitors
Do you like the idea of multi-level marketing and how Amway operates and wish you could buy Amway stock? Even though you cannot buy Amway stock, you can invest in other companies with a structure and system similar to Amway’s.
Although we cannot guarantee these will be good investments for you! Here is a list of a few well-known multi-level marketing firms that you can buy shares of today!
Herbalife ($HLF) TipRanks Stock Forecast Report 3/24
1. Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. (NSYE:HLF)
Herbalife is another well-known multi-level marketing company. You’ve probably come across its weight loss or dietary supplement products.
They were established in 1980 by founder Mark Hughes, who sold the first Herbalife supplements out of the trunk of his car. The company debuted on Wall Street as an IPO in December 2004 at $14 per share.
Like Amway, Herbalife has had its share of controversy in the past. Several notable investors have accused the company of operating a pyramid scheme.
This includes well-known hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who famously had a $1 billion short position against Herbalife’s stock. Perhaps Herbalife’s greatest obstacle has been the continuous findings in many countries of liver damage to people who ingest their products.
Despite these allegations, Herbalife has sponsored the L.A. Galaxy MLS Soccer team, Christiano Ronaldo since 2013, and Lionel Messi from 2010-2013.
Herbalfe’s stock is currently trading at around $14 per share. And the company has a market cap of nearly $6 billion, which would bode well for Amway stock.
2. Usana Health Sciences (NYSE:USNA)
Yet another company that has become synonymous with multi-level marketing, Usana sells mainly nutritional and dietary supplements.
Along with personal care products for skincare. Established in Utah in 1992, Usana’s products are now sold in dozens of countries worldwide.
They have nearly 350,000 sales associates who help deliver their products to their customers.
As you may have already suspected, Usana is another multi-level marketing company that has a past riddled with controversy. But unfortunately, several SEC and other government agencies’ investigations have become empty.
But Usana is definitely on the radar for its corporate governance. Back in 2007, Usana’s board of directors was under scrutiny.
It was discovered that several board members had lied or exaggerated their medical education and licenses. Usana has a long past of being sued by its employees as well.
That’s never really a good look for any company, regardless of the industry—however, Usana’s stock trades at just over $77 per share. It has been a consistent investment for shareholders, which would make people excited about Amway stock.
3. Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS)
Nu Skin is another multi-level marketing company specializing in nutritional supplements and healthcare products. They’re relatively under the radar as far as these brands go.
Like Usana, Nu Skin is based out of Utah but operates in markets worldwide, particularly in Asia. As always, Nu Skin has undergone criticism from the media and the FTC about its pyramid structure, but it has largely gone unpunished.
Other controversies include alleged bribery of Chinese officials and lab tests on their products, revealing that its contents fail to meet the standards of the FDA. Nu Skin’s stock trades at just under $55 per share with a market cap of nearly $3 billion.
Amway Stock Potential
Amway boasts the largest global workforce and the highest annual revenues compared to these three companies. Therefore, if it ever did decide to go public, we can expect it to have a reasonably high valuation and larger market cap.
It isn’t easy to estimate the price of Amway’s stock. But it certainly has a good chance of being higher than Herbalife or Usana.
One thing Amway has continued to do that sets itself apart from other multi-level marketing firms is reinventing its brand. As a result, Amway underwent a fairly big change in 1999.
Amway and its sister company, Alticor, created Quixstar, an entirely new brand that offered the same products. In 2007, the Quixstar experiment ended.
Then, Amway rebranded itself as Amway Global in every country it operated. Amway does have country-specific brand names such as Amway China or Amway Australia. However, these all operate under the larger Amway Global umbrella.
Final Thoughts: Amway Stock
Are you like the millions of sellers and distributors worldwide working for multi-level marketing companies? Then you may think Amway would be a good investment. You’re right.
The company has strong revenues and several globally recognized brand names that provide strong, recurring revenue streams in every market. Don’t let the company’s controversy and questionable business practices sway you. Amway is a financially stable company that would be a good investment.
If you’re the type of investor that only buys shares of companies that you ethically align yourself with, then Amway or any other multi-level marketing firms may not be for you.
Luckily, for now, Amway isn’t a publicly traded company. So you’d have trouble finding Amway’s stock anyway. So, instead, check out a growing company, Didi Stock, which is looking for a potential IPO.
Frequently Asked Questions
Amway is a privately owned company by the families of Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel. It's holding company is Alticor.
Amway is a private company not listed in the US stock market. There are no shares for investors to purchase.
Amway is known by Alticor in the United States as well as Amway. It used to be known as Quixtar.
