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AmwayAmway is an international multi-level marketing system consisting of a company called Amway Corporation and several surrounding but legally separate motivational organizations. Amway Corporation, a privately held company founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Rich DeVos and based in Ada, Michigan, has annual sales of $6.2 billion (2004). It manufactures and sells personal care products and markets products from other companies, including (in Australia and New Zealand), Emma Page jewelry. In 1999 the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister (and separate) internet-based company named Quixtar. Both Amway and Quixtar are owned by Alticor. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001 and at this current time Amway only operates in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Amivo acts as an Amway daughter-company in Europe. Controversy Amway and its online incarnation, Quixtar, have been controversial for years because of allegations that these companies are pyramid schemes. Critics claim that most of the products sold by Amway are to the IBOs themselves for personal consumption rather than to retail consumers who aren't enrolled as IBOs. Buying products from Amway or Quixtar gives IBOs points and they are paid back on the number of points that they generate from personal consumption. It is claimed to be a business oppurtunity and hence an existing IBO can help others to get an IBO number and divert their buying habit from other stores to Amway or Quixtar. Thus the business grows as more number of people join the group. The share of profit is based on the leverage that an IBO has. The business skills of the IBOs are honed by business support material and tools sold or provided by select kingpins within the higher ranks of the organization. It is claimed that the support material can be of help to an IBO if he wants to build a big business, however undercover investigations like one done by MSNBC Dateline in 2003-04 suggest that most the money being earned by these kingpins was coming from the hidden "tools" business rather than through selling the company products. Independent Media TV has reported that the paperwork involved in an endless stream of lawsuits filed against Amway and its Kingpin distributors over the past 2 decades would probably fill a 10 story office building. The complaints and discovery documents filed in these actions outline 20 years of fraud perpetrated on millions of unwitting and vulnerable recruits all over the world. In 2005, what would go down as perhaps the biggest train wreck in public relations history occurred. Amway Quixtar orchestrated an attempt to drown out sites reporting deceptive practices and negative opinions. The "Web Initiative" was flagged as Google bombing, a flagrant violation of Google's Quality Guidelines. External links and references Amway detractors accuse the company of spreading right-wing beliefs among its distributors 1, 2. This has led to the derogatory term "Amway Christian", which suggests a professed Christian with a lack of commitment to the social-justice elements of the faith3,4,5, 6 Resources
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