Amway Culture & Value Series – The US$10 Billion Inducement

As we always say at Amway, the sustainable development of an enterprise is not just about its physical strength, but also the strength of the corporate culture and the important role this plays in the business. 

In Amway, the close partnership established between partners is the company’s most valuable resource, with its people-oriented culture and integrity helping to drive the business forward. “Partners” refer to people who have a strong feeling of friendship, love or shared beliefs and experiences. These experiences create a very special bond that enables them to stay together and work together, helping each other through difficulties encountered along the way.

On their journey to business success, the Co-founders of Amway Corporation encountered various difficulties and challenges that led to frustrations and even thought that “the business might not survive this time”. At one point, Mr. DeVos suffered a heart attack and needed to undergo surgery, which left Mr. Van Andel needing to shoulder the burden himself. This made Mr. Van Andel feel discouraged and downhearted, and the pair even considered selling the business. It was fully understandable that the two of them might consider such a decision, which would allow them to enjoy a more leisurely and peaceful retirement. 

Around that time, a Japanese enterprise made a proposal to acquire Amway that would leave the two founders US$1 billion richer if they accepted the offer. After several weeks of negotiations between two parties, the terms of the deal were almost settled and it just required a final decision from the founders – but at the last minute they rejected the offer saying, “no, we need to keep everything!”

“We didn’t sell the Amway business, not because we were reluctant to give up our own family business but because we wanted to stay with Amway – we felt confident about Amway’s basic philosophy. We knew the great potential of its business plan and, more importantly, no matter what the difficulties and challenges that lay ahead, we wanted to work together with our hardworking partners who showed their great capability and were eager to establish the business with us at the very beginning. We wanted to share the joy and sorrow with them together!”