Herbalife to operate in capital
Herbalife Ltd, a global nutrition company whose business practices are being challenged in a US court and whose marketing strategies have been the subject of public criticism, will officially open a six-storey distribution centre in Phnom Penh today, according to the New York Stock Exchange-listed company.
“With a population of approximately 15.2 million, Cambodia represents further penetration in the company’s Asia Pacific region,” Herbalife said in a statement released yesterday. Regionally, this is Herbalife’s 15th country of operations, including Thailand and Vietnam.
Branded as a personal-care product provider, the highly successful company relies on thousands of distributors to sell its vitamins and health-supplement products.
But media reports show that ex-distributors, rights groups and hedge-fund heavyweights have all recently challenged the company’s business model as being unprofitable for those on the bottom rung of the ladder. Those same groups have also said that Herbalife’s business model targets vulnerable segments of society with enticing dreams of fast money.
Herbalife has continually denied these accusations, which have, in any case, hardly dented earnings. This week, Herbalife posted a strong third-quarter profit, with net income up 27 per cent to $142 million, according to Bloomberg. The company is based in the Cayman Islands. …
At the new headquarters yesterday on Street 169, Herbalife distributor Quang Ethan, who had travelled from Vietnam for the launch, seemed smitten with the multinational, even though in his first two months, he has yet to reap the rewards. …
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/herbalife-operate-capital
