Blyth, Inc. is a

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based marketing and manufacturing company that sells personal and decorative products. In 2001, it was the largest candlemaker in the

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. Subsidiaries include the

multi-level marketing 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-salarie ...

companies PartyLite and Visalus.

History

On May 13, 2002, Blyth announced that it has acquired all of the membership interest in CBK, Ltd., LLC, a designer and marketer of giftware and home decor, sold under the CBK brand. Blyth purchased the interests in CBK for total cash consideration of approximately $49.5 million. Midwest CBK was sold to MVP Group International in 2011. CBK was to remain obligated on its indebtedness, including approximately $4.8 million of long-term debt. In 2012 Blyth sold the brand

Sterno Sterno is a brand of gel, jellied denatured alcohol sold in and meant to be burned directly in its can. Popular both in commercial food service and home entertainment, its primary uses are as a chafing fuel, fuel for heating chafing dishes in bu ...

, which it had acquired in 1997. In 2015, Blyth was acquired by the private equity firm

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...

. Subsidiary Silver Star Brands was sold to Crosby Rock, leaving Blyth with PartyLite.

ViSalus

In 2008 Blyth began a multi-stage takeover of ViSalus, a multi-level marketing company which sells nutritional supplements and

energy drink An energy drink is a type of non-alcoholic psychoactive functional beverage containing stimulant compounds, usually caffeine (at a higher concentration than ordinary soda pop) and taurine, which is marketed as reducing tiredness and improving pe ...

s. In the first stage of the takeover Blyth purchased a 43.6% equity interest for $14.0 million. In 2011 Blyth invested an additional $2.5 million and increasing their ownership share to 57.5%. By August 2012 Blyth owned a 73% share of Visalus and planned a spin off of the company in an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

. In September 2012,

Moody's Investors Service Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histo ...

downgraded Blyth's credit from "stable" to "negative," Blyth stated that ViSalus's growth was not properly valued, and Blyth withdrew the

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

citing uncertain market conditions. In September 2014, ViSalus' founders and select stockholders arranged to buy back control of the company from Blyth. Blyth remained an equity holder with 10% of ViSalus's stock. The transaction eliminated Blyth's obligation to pay the co-founders $143.2 million as part of the 2008 acquisition. At the time of the transaction, ViSalus' earnings and revenue had declined from a high-point in 2012, and the company had been operating at a loss for 2013 and the first two quarters of 2014.

References

External links

Yahoo Finance overviewBlyth, Inc. SEC Filings
at Twist.com. Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Greenwich, Connecticut Manufacturing companies based in Connecticut Multi-level marketing companies Manufacturing companies established in 1976 2015 mergers and acquisitions The Carlyle Group companies Candles 1976 establishments in Connecticut {{portal, Companies