Avon Rejects $10 Billion Takeover Bid
By · CommentsConsidering that Avon is the #1 company in global revenues in the entire Network Marketing / Direct Sales industry with over $11 Billion in annual revenues, the offer does look ‘dramatically low’ to me, at least on the surface.
Beauty Company Coty said on Monday that it had offered to buy Avon Products for $10,000,000,000 and was willing to raise the price, but the bid was rejected by the cosmetics direct seller, which faces sliding sales in key markets and a bribery probe.
Coty, whose products include fragrances by celebrities including Beyoncé and Lady Gaga, said it had no plans to make a hostile bid, but had been “unsuccessful” in getting Avon to talk about a deal.
The fast-growing privately held company majority-owned by Joh. A Benckiser, is offering $23.25 per share, a 20% premium over Avon’s Friday closing price of $19.36 on the New York Stock Exchange.
In a statement on Monday, Avon rejected the offer, saying it “substantially undervalues” the company.
But analysts said Avon’s board should not dismiss the bid out of hand, given the company’s problems.
“It’s an opportunity that the board should seriously consider,” said Sanford C. Bernstein & Co analyst Ali Dibadj. Except for perhaps another direct seller, he added, there are few potential suitors for Avon.
Coty’s bid is not “dramatically too low,” he said, predicting Coty will come back with a higher offer.
Avon is searching for a new chief executive officer to replace Andrea Jung, who has held that post since 1999. It has said the new CEO will undertake a top-to-bottom review of the struggling company, which is dealing with a probe into whether it broke U.S. anti-bribery laws in China.
At Friday’s close, shares of Avon were down nearly 50 percent from a year and a half ago. Before Coty made its bid public, Avon was worth only about $8 billion, down from an all-time peak of $21.8 billion in June 2004.
For the rest of the article, visit CNBC.com
Final FTC Judgement on Burnlounge
By · Comments$16,245,799.70 = 16 MILLION PLUS CHANGE, BUT THEN IT GETS SCARY
Mar 15 2012 We all knew that this was coming but there is a big shock in this case! The Judge referenced Section 5 of the FTC rule which is used for Pyramids! OK That was expected! Then he goes on and quotes the NEW BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY RULE! QUOTES WORD FOR WORD!
The legal issues part of the Association of Network Marketing Professionals last week decided that we should not complain to the FTC about the new Business Opportunity Rule. Now we know why the FTC did not want to send a representative to the ANMP meeting! The FTC was planning to tie Pyramids and the Business Opportunity Rule together with this court case.
NEVER LET THE GOVERNMENT HAVE TOO BIG A HAMMER – TOO BIG A HAMMER HITS INNOCENTS!
PRESS RELEASE BURN LOUNGE CASE
FTC Action Leads to Court Order Shutting Down Pyramid Scam Thousands of Consumers Burned by BurnLounge
Mar 15 2012 At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court judge has ordered the operators and top promoters of a deceptive pyramid scheme to pay a total of $17 million to refund consumers who were burned by the scam. The court order permanently halts marketing methods used by the operation known as BurnLounge, which lured more than 56,000 consumers from around the country by masquerading as a legitimate multi-level marketing program and making misleading claims about earnings to be made.
The FTC filed a complaint against BurnLounge in 2007 as part of its ongoing efforts to protect consumers from fraud and deception. BurnLounge had touted itself as a cutting-edge way to sell digital music through multi-level marketing, but music sales accounted for only a small percentage of its sales. The agency charged that BurnLounge recruited consumers from across the country by telling them that participants earned huge incomes. Investors could buy into the BurnLounge organization for prices ranging from $29.95 to $429.95, plus monthly fees. While participants were compensated for music and album sales, most compensation came from recruiting others into the plan.
The FTC charged the defendants with operating an illegal pyramid scheme, with making deceptive earnings claims, and with failing to disclose that most consumers who participated in pyramid schemes wouldn’t receive substantial income, but instead would lose money. The agency charged that the practices violate federal law.
The court’s final judgment and order bars the defendants from engaging in pyramid, Ponzi, or chain letter schemes or any schemes in which compensation for recruitment is unrelated to the sale of product to customers who are not participants. The order bars misrepresentations about multi-level marketing operations or business ventures, including misrepresentations about sales, income, profitability, or legality of the operations. If the defendants make claims about earnings, sales, or profits, the order requires them to disclose the number and percentage of participants in the business venture who have earned, sold or profited that much.
Finally, the court ordered the defendants to pay, collectively, close to $17 million for consumer redress. BurnLounge, Inc., and Juan Alexander Arnold were ordered to pay $16,245,799. John Taylor was ordered to pay $620,138 and Rob DeBoer was ordered to pay $150,000. Standard bookkeeping and record keeping requirements in the order will allow the FTC to monitor compliance.
In June 2007, another defendant in the pyramid scheme, Scott Elliott, settled the FTC’s charges against him. The settlement barred him from participating in any pyramid scheme or other prohibited marketing scheme, barred false earning claims, and required him to give up $20,000 in ill-gotten gains.
This case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division.
Update on Max International Lawsuit
By · CommentsIn a lawsuit between Max International and Mike Unclebach, Scott Unclebach and Enhance International is at a standstill. Max had filed a Temporary Restraining Order” (normal but in this case too slow the court said) in an attempt to stop Enhance International prior to the launch of the company on March 27th from contacting any former Max Distributors. The TRO was thrown out by the 3rd District Court last Wednesday in Salt Lake City.
The Order clearly noted ” Furthermore the court does not find sufficient evidence that the Defendant have used confidential or trade secret information where much of the claims are assumptions as to what has happened or supposedly done by Defendants “ Defendant Scott Unclebach and VP of the defendant corporation Enhance International stated “ We are pleased with the Court ruling and look forward to all truth coming out in this case.
The Tump Network Sold and Bioceutica Shows Death Dive
By · CommentsNew Company Bioceutica Shows Death Dive
570 down to 334 in a month
The Bioceutica has gotten several “we are owed money complaints” since the Trump Network sold the company to Antoine Nohra of Credico Marketing. The old Ideal Health ownersTodd and Scott Stanwood and Lou DiCaprio stepped down to become independent reps with the new owner. The new name is “Bioceutica.”The Trump name is totally gone!
The history is in 1997, Ideal Health started (and never got good traction) When Donald Trump came in 2009. At the height the Trump Network had about 20k Distributors.
