A pyramid scheme is a business model which, rather than earning money by sale of legitimate products to an end consumer, mainly earns money by recruiting new members with the promise of payments. As the number of members multiplies, recruiting quickly becomes increasingly difficult until it is impossible, and therefore most of the newer recruits do not make a profit. As such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable. The unsustainable nature of pyramid schemes has led to most countries outlawing them as a form of fraud.
Stephen McConnell Case is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist best known as the former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). Case joined AOL's predecessor company, Quantum Computer Services, as a marketing vice-president in 1985, became CEO of the company in 1991, and, at the height of the dot-com bubble in 2000, orchestrated with Gerald M. Levin the merger that created AOL Time Warner, described as "the biggest train wreck in the history of corporate America."
Holiday Magic was a multi-level marketing organization, founded in 1964, by William Penn Patrick (1930–1973) in the United States. Originally the organization distributed goods such as home-care products and cosmetics. Company distributors were encouraged to recruit other distributors in a multilevel marketing structure, which was later characterized as a pyramid scheme.
Gary Vaynerchuk is an American businessman, author, speaker, and internet personality. He is a co-founder of the restaurant reservation software company Resy and Empathy Wines. First known as a wine critic who expanded his family's wine business, Vaynerchuk is now more known for his work in digital marketing and social media as the chairman of New York–based communications company VaynerX, and as CEO of VaynerX subsidiary VaynerMedia.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial and sometimes illegal marketing strategy for the sale of products or services in which the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company's products or services, while the earnings of the participants are derived from a pyramid-shaped or binary compensation commission system.
ACN, Inc. is a North American multi-level marketing (MLM) company. It provides telecommunications, energy, merchant services and other services, depending on the country, through a network of independent sellers who also can recruit other sellers. Based in Concord, North Carolina, United States, ACN began operations in the United States in 1993. As of 2019, the company reported that it operates in twenty-seven countries.
AdvoCare International, LLC is an American dietary supplement company. They are a direct sales company and a former multi-level marketing company that was charged with operating a pyramid scheme. The company, headquartered in Richardson, TX, was founded in 1993 by Charles Ragus.
Timothy Daniel Pool is an American right-wing political commentator and podcast host. He first became known for live streaming the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests. He joined Vice Media and Fusion TV in 2014, later working on YouTube and other platforms.
Solavei was a social commerce network offering contract-free mobile service in the United States, known for its use of incentivized referral plans and its social network advertising program. In addition to its mobile phone services, Solavei operated a social commerce network for its users. Ryan Wuerch founded the company in 2012. As of 2013, Solavei had 140 employees and was valued by investors at $120 million. The company has been described as a multi-level marketing (MLM) company, or of being very similar to a MLM company.
Jonathan Peter Taffer is an American entrepreneur and television personality. He is best known for hosting the reality series Bar Rescue on Paramount Network and Face the Truth on CBS with Vivica A. Fox.
Marc Kramer is an American serial entrepreneur, business book author and journalist. He founded the country's first formally organized investor angel network, the Pennsylvania Private Investors Group, now called the Private Investors Forum, and the country's first cyber bank insurance product for small businesses, Commercial Deposit Insurance. Marc is also founder of Dads & Daughters, a group that made sure that entrepreneurial fathers and their daughters got together every Saturday for uninterrupted time.
WakeUpNow was a multi-level marketing company based in Provo, Utah, that sold products and services focused on health and financial management. It was founded in 2009 by Troy Muhlestein. The company ceased operations in the United States on February 16, 2015.
Randy Gage is an American author and motivational speaker. He is known for writing self-help books and lectures on success and prosperity.
Scott Galloway is an American public speaker, author, podcast host, and entrepreneur. He is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business.
Midas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich — And Why Most Don't is a non-fiction book about personal finance, co-authored by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. The book was published in hardcover format in 2011. The coauthors became familiar with each other through mutual work at The Learning Annex, and The Art of the Deal. Trump was impressed by Kiyosaki's writing success with Rich Dad Poor Dad. The coauthors then wrote Why We Want You to be Rich together in 2006, and followed it up with Midas Touch in 2011.
Chris Williamson is an English podcaster and YouTuber. He appeared on the first series of Love Island in 2015. Since 2018 he has hosted the Modern Wisdom podcast, a show which has been downloaded more than 400 million times.
Scentsy is an American multi-level marketing company based in Meridian, Idaho, that sells scented products including wax warmers and other home and body products.
Steven Cliff Bartlett is a British entrepreneur, investor and podcaster. He founded the social media marketing company Social Chain in 2014. He started the The Diary of a CEO podcast in 2017, which is one of the world's most listened-to podcasts. Spotify Wrapped ranked it in the top 5 most popular podcasts globally in 2024. In 2021, he began appearing as an investor on the BBC One show Dragons' Den. He is the founder of Flight Group which consists of Flight Studio, Flight Fund, Flight Story, Flight Books. He is also the founder of Thirdweb.
Mar Mari Emmanuel is an Iraqi-born, Assyrian Australian prelate. He is the bishop of Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, New South Wales. In 2011, Emmanuel was ordained a bishop in the Ancient Church of the East, but was excommunicated in 2014. In 2015, he established an independent church in the Eastern Syriac tradition of Christianity.
Hala Taha is a Palestinian-American entrepreneur, podcast host, and keynote speaker. She is the founder and CEO of YAP Media and YAP Media Network, and the host of the Young and Profiting podcast.
