Five Private U.S. Firms

AMWAY CORPORATION, originally known as American Way Corporation, was founded by Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel in 1959. DeVos and Van Andel were convinced that they could sell their own line of vitamins, detergents and other household items through network sales. Network sales offers commissions to distributors who recruit more distributors (Hoover's Guide To Private Companies, 19941995, p. 26).

AMWAY reached about $500,000 in sales in 1960 and $10 million in 1964. The AMWAY method of selling products caught on, barely allowing administrative and sales support to keep up with demand. AMWAY found itself catching on in Australia, Europe, and Asia through the 1970s and 1980s (Hoover's Guide To Private Companies, 19941995, p. 26).

In the 1970s the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) questioned the legitimacy of AMWAY's reliance on network sales, citing comparisons to pyramid sales. In 1979 the FTC decided that because distributors receive commissions only on actual sales that AMWAY's sales methods were legitimate. AMWAY also experienced legal difficulties in Canada, being charged w

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Inc. began its operations in 1862 in Santiago, Cuba. Facunda Bacardi y Maso and his brother Jose purchased an operating distillery and began to produce a smoother more mixable brand of rum than their competition could supply. Finding and capturing the competitive high ground has become the trademark of Bacardi Imports, Inc. (Hoover's Guide To Private Companies, 19941995, p. 32). From the late 1870s through the early years of the 20th century, Bacardi struggled. Cuba's political and economy climate was unsettled and so Bacardi foundered. When Cuba established political independence in 1902, Bacardi's success grew. Ironically, the company got a further boost from American Prohibition and began to expand and diversify (Hoover's Guide To Private Companies, 19941995, p. 32). In the 1920s Bacardi moved into brewing and expanded its run producing operations in the 1930s to Mexico and Puerto Rico. In the 1940s Bacardi started Bacardi Imports Inc. in the United States and in the 1950s focused in expanding its Mexican and Puerto Rican operations (Hoover's Guide To Private Companies, 19941995, p. 32). In 1960, Communist leader Fidel Castro nationalized private enterprise and seized the assets of Bacardi's Cuban operations. Howeve
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