OPINION | By Rob Sperry
No fluff. No spin. Just real perspective.
In the last two years, we’ve seen some big-name companies in network marketing take hits:
Tupperware – Filed for bankruptcy in 2024, but still in business, and with the restructure, many leaders have said they’re going strong.
Modere – bankruptcy; recently closed its doors.
Thirty-One Gifts – bankruptcy.
BODi (Beachbody) – switched to an affiliate model in 2024.
Rodan + Fields – switched to affiliate.
Seint – switched to affiliate.
Lorde and Belle – switched to affiliate.
Beautycounter – shut down.
Epicure – privately owned; closed operations.
Color Street – privately owned; also switched to affiliate.
Many of these larger companies (notably Color Street, Seint, and Epicure) are privately owned, while Tupperware remains publicly traded.
Private equity (PE) firms can be geniuses in many other industries; they know how to scale, raise capital, optimize and exit. But when it comes to network marketing? They “typically” don’t get it.
They don’t get the emotional side of this business. They don’t get the single mom earning $400 a month to bridge the gap. They don’t get how real this is to the people building it. They look at bottom-line profit. They make short-term decisions. Those short-term decisions eventually catch up to them.
And when a business