Employees
As of September 30, 2005, we had 2,667 full-time employees.
These numbers do not include our distributors, who are
independent contractors rather than our employees. Except for
some employees in Mexico and in some European countries, none of
our employees are members of any labor union, and we have never
experienced any business interruption as a result of any labor
disputes.
Properties
We lease all of our physical properties located in the United
States. Our executive offices, located in Century City,
California, include approximately 115,000 square feet of
general office space under lease arrangements expiring in August
2007. We lease an aggregate of approximately 144,000 square
feet of office space, computer facilities and conference rooms
at the Operations Center in Inglewood, California, under a lease
that expires in October 2006, and approximately
150,000 square feet of warehouse space in two separate
facilities located in Los Angeles and Memphis. The Los Angeles
and Memphis lease agreements have terms through June 2006 and
August 2006, respectively. In Venray, Netherlands, we lease our
European centralized warehouse of approximately
175,000 square feet. The lease expires in June 2007. We
also lease warehouse, manufacturing plant and office space in a
majority of our other geographic areas of operation. We believe
that our existing facilities are adequate to meet our current
requirements and that comparable space is readily available at
each of these locations.
Legal Proceedings
We are from time to time engaged in routine litigation. We
regularly review all pending litigation matters in which we are
involved and establish reserves deemed appropriate by management
for these litigation matters when a probable loss estimate can
be made.
Herbalife International and certain of its independent
distributors have been named as defendants in a purported class
action lawsuit filed February 17, 2005, in the Superior
Court of California, County of San Francisco, and served on
Herbalife International on March 14, 2005
(
Minton v. Herbalife International, et al
). The
case has been transferred to the Los Angeles County Superior
Court. The plaintiff is challenging the marketing practices of
certain Herbalife International independent distributors and
Herbalife International under various state laws prohibiting
endless chain schemes, insufficient disclosure in
assisted marketing plans, unfair and deceptive business
practices, and fraud and deceit. The plaintiff alleges that the
Freedom Group system operated by certain independent
distributors of Herbalife International products places too much
emphasis on recruiting and encourages excessively large
purchases of product and promotional materials by distributors.
The plaintiff also alleges that Freedom Group pressured
distributors to disseminate misleading promotional materials.
The plaintiff seeks to hold Herbalife International vicariously
liable for the actions of its independent distributors and is
seeking damages and injunctive relief. The Company believes that
we have meritorious defenses to the suit.
Herbalife International and certain of its distributors have
been named as defendants in a purported class action lawsuit
filed July 16, 2003, in the Circuit Court of Ohio County in
the State of West Virginia
(Mey v. Herbalife
International, Inc., et al)
. The complaint alleges that
certain telemarketing practices of certain Herbalife
International distributors violate the Telephone Consumer
Protection Act, or TCPA, and seeks to hold Herbalife
International liable for the practices of its distributors. More
specifically, the plaintiffs complaint alleges that
several of Herbalife Internationals distributors used
pre-recorded telephone messages and autodialers to contact
prospective customers in violation of the TCPAs
prohibition of such practices. Herbalife Internationals
distributors are independent contractors and, if any such
distributors in fact violated the TCPA, they also violated
Herbalifes policies, which require its distributors to
comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws. We
believe that we have meritorious defenses to the suit.
As a marketer of dietary and nutritional supplements and other
products that are ingested by consumers or applied to their
bodies, we have been and are currently subjected to various
product liability claims. The effects of these claims to date
have not been material to us, and the reasonably possible range
of exposure on currently existing claims is not material to us.
We believe that we have meritorious defenses to the allegations
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contained in the lawsuits. We currently maintain product
liability insurance with an annual deductible of
$10 million.
Certain of our subsidiaries have been subject to tax audits by
governmental authorities in their respective countries. In
certain of these tax audits, governmental authorities are
proposing that significant amounts of additional taxes and
related interest and penalties are due. We and our tax advisors
believe that there are substantial defenses to their allegations
that additional taxes are owing, and we are vigorously
contesting the additional proposed taxes and related charges.
These matters may take several years to resolve, and we cannot
be sure of their ultimate resolution. However, it is the opinion
of management that adverse outcomes, if any, will not likely
result in a material effect on our financial condition and
operating results. This opinion is based on our belief that any
losses we suffer would not be material and that we have
meritorious defenses. Although we have reserved an amount that
we believe represents the likely outcome of the resolution of
these disputes, if we are incorrect in our assessment we may
have to pay the full amount assessed.
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