Nu Skin Enterprises

Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. is an American multilevel marketing company that develops and sells personal care products and dietary and nutritional supplements. Under the Nu Skin and Pharmanex brands, the company sells its products in 54 markets through a network of approximately 1.2 million independent distributors.

History
In 1984, Nu Skin founders Blake Roney, Sandie Tillotson, and Steve Lund launched a line of skincare products using only natural ingredients. The founders aimed to create skincare products and nutritional products without unnecessary fillers with the philosophy of “all of the good, none of the bad.”

The company first served the United States market and expanded operations to Canada in 1990. In 1991, the company began operations in Asia, starting in Hong Kong. In 1996, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1992, Nu Skin settled with five states that had accused the company of deceptive advertising and overstating the income earned by distributors. In 1994, following an investigation by the FTC, the company paid $1 million and signed a consent decree prohibiting it from making deceptive claims about its products. In 1997, the company paid an additional $1.5 million to the FTC to settle allegations of unsubstantiated promotional claims.

In 1998, Nu Skin acquired Generation Health, the parent company of the dietary supplement company Pharmanex. According to Women's Health Letter, the Pharmanex device was designed merely to help sell more supplements, since per Nu Skin's 2002 annual report, "as customers track their skin carotenoid content, we believe they will be motivated to consistently consume LifePak for longer periods of time."

In the late 1990s, Nu Skin invested in Big Planet, a multilevel marketing company selling Internet services. The New York Times noted that Big Planet appeared to recruit people "even if they have little knowledge of the technology that they are supposed to be selling." A representative of the company stated: "I believe people who have never touched a computer before can become hugely wealthy in this business."

In 2009, Nu Skin began working with LifeGen Technologies, a genomics company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Nu Skin acquired LifeGen in December 2011. Nu Skin claims LifeGen's genetic database aided in the development of Nu Skin's products, launching the ageLOC brand.

In 2016, Nu Skin agreed to pay a $47 million settlement for operating a pyramid scheme after being sued by China in a Utah federal court. Nu Skin was also forced to pay another $750,000 for bribing a top Chinese official with funds from Nu Skin's charitable division after a United States Securities and Exchange Commission probe.

In 2021, Nu Skin's subsidiary Rhyz Inc. acquired social commerce company Mavely and acquired Dallas-based skincare company BeautyBio in 2023.

Products
Nu Skin was granted a patent on a device developed by Pharmanex called a "BioPhotonic Scanner", which is designed to measure the carotenoid level in skin. The company launched its ageLOC anti-aging brand in 2008.

In 2014, Nu Skin launched the Nu Skin Facial Spa which received FDA clearance for over-the-counter cosmetic use. In 2018, the company introduced the ageLOC LumiSpa, a dual-action skin care device that uses a soft silicone treatment head to gently cleanse away dirt, oil, and makeup.

Nu Skin launched ageLOC LumiSpa iO, the company’s first connected device, in 2022. LumiSpa iO is a smart treatment and cleansing device for customized skin care, popularized by Venus Williams. Nu Skin launched Nu Colour “Lash + Brow” in 2023, marketed as free of prostaglandins. In 2022, Nu Skin launched a line of Nutricentials Bioadaptive Skin Care Pumps. In 2024, the company launched Nu Skin RenuSpa iO, an FDA-cleared microcurrent body device with a connected app to view live insights during treatment. RenuSpa iO is the company’s first integrated beauty and wellness device.

Reception
Nu Skin Enterprises' uses a multi-level marketing business model. Each distributor markets products directly to potential customers and can also recruit and train customers to become distributors. Distributors are paid from the retail markup on products they are able to sell personally, as well as a performance bonus based on the sales of distributors they have recruited. In the early 1990s, Nu Skin was investigated by the states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan over allegations of misleading marketing practices. In 1992 the company settled with five of these states, admitting no wrongdoing but agreeing to pay the states' investigative costs, refund disgruntled distributors, and revamp its promotional practices. The Connecticut Attorney General did not agree to those terms and sued Nu Skin, charging the company with misleading its distributors and operating a pyramid scheme. Nu Skin admitted to no wrongdoing or violation of law and paid Connecticut $85,000 for consumer-protection programs as part of a settlement.

In 1997, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania sued Nu Skin, alleging that the company operated a pyramid scheme through a subsidiary, QIQ Connections. The Attorney General's office alleged that distributors paid for the right to market technology services that did not, in fact, exist. Nu Skin discontinued the QIQ subsidiary, allowing those who had paid QIQ to transition to Big Planet, another Nu Skin interest marketing Internet technology. The president of Big Planet described the pyramid scheme as a matter of "a few distributors who in their enthusiasm have been overzealous in some of their marketing activities."

In 2010, Nu Skin was listed among Forbes "100 Most Trustworthy Companies".

In 2012, Stanford University apologized for any "misunderstanding" following a cease and desist letter sent to halt the use of the name of one of its researchers, Dr. Stuart Kim, in Nu Skin's advertising. Also in 2012, Citron Research issued a report "stating that Nu Skin's sales model on mainland China, the fastest growing market in direct-selling, amounted to an illegal multilevel marketing scheme." Nu Skin dismissed the claims, calling its sales model in China "kosher" and stating that it had no plans to change its business model in China. In 2014, The Chinese government investigated Nu Skin following a People's Daily newspaper report calling it a "suspected illegal pyramid scheme." Following the investigation, the Chinese government fined Nu Skin for $540,000 due to illegal sales and making false product claims.

In February 2014, a securities fraud class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of the company during the period from July 10, 2013, to January 16, 2014.

In a Last Week Tonight with John Oliver segment that covered multilevel marketing companies, Oliver criticized Nu Skin for the fact that in 2015, 93% of its distributors did not earn a commission check in a typical month. Nu Skin says it pays approximately 43 percent of its product revenue in sales compensation.

In politics
In 2011, two Utah-incorporated business entities linked to top executives of Nu Skin each made a $1 million contribution to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC established by former aides to U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney to support his bid for the White House.