Amway Global - History

History

Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel initially founded the Ja-Ri Corporation, a multi-level marketing distributorship for Nutrilite products, in 1949. Ja-Ri was incorporated in 1959, and changed its name to "Amway" (American Way) in 1963. As of 2007, Amway operates in more than 80 countries around the world. In 1999, the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister Internet-based company named Quixtar. The Alticor corporation owns both Amway and Quixtar, plus several other concerns. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001 after the majority of the distributors moved to Quixtar, with Amway operating in the rest of the world.

On June 13, 2007, the Associated Press confirmed that over the next 18 to 24 months, the Quixtar business would be phased out in favor of a unified Amway Global brand in North America. According to Chairman Steve Van Andel and President Doug DeVos, "We are going through a global transformation of our business; this includes rethinking our global approach to products, training, brands, and how we operate in all the countries in which Alticor operates. As part of that, in 18 to 24 months, we're planning to begin using the Amway name in North America to unite our business opportunity under a single global brand."