The story
Founded by Mark R. Hughes on Feb 1980, in Los Angeles.1
In February 1980, Mark R. Hughes began selling the original Herbalife weight management product from the trunk of his car. Hughes often stated that the genesis of his product and program stemmed from the weight loss concerns of his mother Joanne whose premature death he attributed to an eating disorder and an unhealthy approach to weight loss. His first product was a protein shake designed to help people manage their weight. He structured his company using a direct-selling, multi-level marketing model.
In 1982, Herbalife received complaints from the Food and Drug Administration for claims made about certain products and the inclusion of mandrake, poke root, and food-grade linseed oil in another.
The Department of Justice of Canada filed criminal charges against the company in November 1984 for misleading medical claims in advertisements. As a result of the complaints, the company modified its product claims and reformulated the product.
By 1985, Herbalife was considered the fastest-growing private company in America by Inc. after its sales increased from $386 thousand to $423 million over the previous five years. That same year, the California Attorney General sued the company for making inflated claims about the efficacy of its products. The company suffered as a result of the lawsuit and was forced to lay off nearly 800 employees by May 1985. The company settled the suit for $850,000 without admitting wrongdoing.
In 1986, Herbalife became a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ and rebranded itself as Herbalife International. However, as a result of the negative publicity from the FDA lawsuit, the company posted a $3 million loss that year.
By 1988, the company had expanded its reach to Japan, Spain, New Zealand, Israel, and Mexico, and it increased its worldwide sales to $191 million in 1991.
In 1993, the company underwent a secondary offering of five million shares.
The company launched a line of personal care products in 1995 which included fragrances and facial cleansing products.
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The company was sued in civil court by two former distributors in 1997 for withholding earned income.
In 1999, Hughes attempted to take the company private after asserting that Wall Street was undervaluing it. While the board approved the buyout offer, shareholders of the company filed a suit against the company because they believed the share price they were offered was unfair. Hughes eventually abandoned his attempt to buy the company and settled the suit with shareholders. On May 20, 2000, Mark Hughes died at age 44. Following his death, the company was led by Christopher Pair until October 2001.
In March 2026, Herbalife acquired Bioniq, a UK-based personalized supplements company that uses blood biomarker analysis to formulate products, for up to US$150 million.
J.H. Whitney & Company and Golden Gate Capital
In 2002, the company was acquired for US$685 million by J.H. Whitney & Company and Golden Gate Capital. Concurrently, plant sources of ephedrine were removed from Herbalife products in 2002 after several U.S. states banned supplements containing such herbs.
In April 2003, Michael O. Johnson joined Herbalife as CEO following a 17-year career with The Walt Disney Company.
On December 16, 2004, the company had an initial public offering on the NYSE of 14.5 million common shares at $14 per share, netting the owners $1.3 billion.
On May 7, 2014, the company announced that it entered into a deal with Bank of America Merrill Lynch to repurchase $266 million of its stock.
The company announced in November 2016 that Chief Operating Officer Richard Goudis would take over the position of CEO in June 2017 and Johnson would transition to Executive Chairman.
In August 2017, the company announced that it would repurchase up to $600 million of its stock.
On April 25, 2018, Herbalife announced that it had changed its name from Herbalife Ltd. to Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. The company also announced that its shareholders had approved a two-for-one stock split.
In January 2019, Herbalife announced that it was replacing Goudis after learning of comments he had made before taking over as CEO that were "contrary to the company’s expense-related policies and business practices” and inconsistent with the company's standards and culture". Former CEO Johnson subsequently took over the role on an interim basis.
In March 2020, John Agwunobi was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Agwunobi departed from Herbalife in October 2022 and Michael O. Johnson was appointed Chairman and interim Chief Executive Officer.
In May 2025, Stephan Gratziani was appointed Chief Executive Officer, becoming the first distributor since founder Mark Hughes to lead the company. Michael O. Johnson transitioned in the position of Executive Chairman.
From Wikipedia’s article on Herbalife, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7