Monthly Archives: September 2014

Hot Business News Today

Time to Reexamine DSA’s Code of Ethics: Suggestions From MLM Attorney, Kevin Thompson

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It’s old news now. Avon left the DSA. In their announcement, they stated the DSA’s Code of Ethics needed revision. Specifically, Cheryl Heinonen at Avon said,
 
“We believe the association’s agenda in the U.S. is overly focused on the issues of a few specific brands rather than industry-wide challenges. . . We believe that the U.S. DSA Code of Ethics requires updating to better reflect the current state of the industry in the U.S.”
 

In a separate article in the Washington Post, Heinonen gave a quote that shed a little light on what she meant. She said,
 
“I think it’s problematic when you sell inventory — bulk product — that the person who is acquiring it can’t use themselves and sometimes may not know how to sell,” Heinonen said. She added that the language in the trade association’s code of ethics on this point and other aspects of consumer protection need to be firmer.”
 
The problem: inventory loading. And I’ll drill down a little deeper because inventory loading, when it exists, is a symptom of a larger problem: lack of product value. In other words, when there’s a lack of legitimate demand for product, companies incentivize participants to “load up” on items they might

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Hot Business News Today

Another Wall Street Principal Shows Support For Herbalife

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Kyle Bass, founder and principal of Hayman Capital Management, says he believes Herbalife is not a ponzi scheme and is a legitimate business model on an interview with CNBC. He even goes as far as saying they’ve had one of their own traders sign up with Herbalife to gain an understanding of the model to make sure it’s legitimate. 
Bass became well-known after successfully predicting and benefitting from the subprime mortgage crisis by purchasing credit default swaps on subprime securities issued by various investment banks (similar to shorting the bonds).
Bass has since continued to attract media attention for his prediction of the European sovereign-debt crisis and his expectations regarding the economic future of Japan and Argentina.
Bass reminded CNBC viewers that Ackman originally went long on Pre-Paid Legal stocks (now a privately held company called Legal Shield) and shared his views on it not beign a pyramid scheme, nearly an identical explanation to why he thinks Herbalife is a pyramid scheme and is shorting that stock instead. 
How long Ackman will continue to battle the Herbalife stock remains to be seen as he placed a hefty $1 Billion dollar short on the company about a year ago. The Herbalife/Ackman battle has become one of the most talked about

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