Overview, company details, product information, news, events, rankings and Rep listings for ViSalus.
ViSalus is no longer operating as the old Body by Vi MLM/direct-selling company. The brand’s surviving public product presence is now Vi / Vi-Shape at Vi.com, and the current site specifically says it is not an MLM, network-marketing, or affiliate program and has “no distributors” or “middlemen.” ViSalus Inc. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 5, 2024, with listed assets of $1 million–$10 million and liabilities of $50 million–$100 million. The bankruptcy remains active as of July 2026.
Original Npros business profile for ViSalus, preserved below for archival purposes:
ViSalus, later commonly branded as Vi, was a weight-management and nutritional-products direct-selling company founded in 2005 by Ryan Blair, Nick Sarnicola, and Blake Mallen. The company became best known for the Body by Vi 90-Day Challenge and its Vi-Shape meal-replacement shake products. ViSalus grew rapidly during the early 2010s, reporting $624 million in 2012 sales, up 171% from $230 million the prior year. Blyth acquired ViSalus in 2012 in a transaction reported at $792.4 million, but the company later went through a major ownership reset: in 2014, the founders led a $148 million management buyout, taking the company private and reducing Blyth's ownership from about 80.9% to 10%.
ViSalus sold nutritional shakes, weight-management kits, energy products, supplements, and related wellness products. Its flagship product was Vi-Shape, a shake mix promoted around protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and weight-management support. The current Vi product site continues to sell Vi-Shape shake mix pouches, flavor-transformation kits, and related shake products, and states that more than 500 million Vi-Shape shakes have been sold.
ViSalus operated as a multilevel direct-selling company. Its older promoter agreement allowed independent promoters to sell products, acquire customers, enroll other promoters, and earn commissions under the compensation plan. The 2011 compensation plan listed eight ways to earn, including direct sales and personal customer commissions, first-order bonuses, weekly enroller's pool, fast-start bonuses, team commissions, a BMW bonus, leadership pool bonus, and ambassador star bonus. Active status required either $125 PQV in autoship sales or $200 PQV in retail sales per month, and personal customer commissions ranged from 10% to 25% based on business volume.
The original ViSalus MLM business is no longer the active public-facing model. ViSalus Inc. filed for Subchapter V Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Eastern District of Texas on December 5, 2024. The bankruptcy petition listed the company at 901 Sam Rayburn Highway, Melissa, Texas, with estimated assets of $1 millionâ€"$10 million, estimated liabilities of $50 millionâ€"$100 million, and more than 100,000 creditors. The current Vi.com terms identify the site as operated by Pruvit Ventures, Inc., also at the Melissa, Texas address, and describe Vi.com as the official website for Pruvit and its affiliates.
ViSalus's legal and regulatory history includes a major robocall class action, Wakefield v. ViSalus. A jury found that ViSalus made 1,850,440 prerecorded calls in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, producing a statutory damages award of $925,220,000 at $500 per call. In 2022, the Ninth Circuit upheld key liability-related rulings but sent the case back for review of whether the aggregate damages award was constitutionally excessive. The U.S. Supreme Court denied ViSalus's petition for review on April 17, 2023
Ryan Blair, CEO
Nick Sarnicola, Royal Ambassador
Blake Mallen, Chief Marketing Officer
Npros.com archives executive bios for ViSalus and other companies. Use the links below for specific executive biographies and related company history.
August 20, 2020 -- A federal judge recently upheld a $925 million judgement determined by a jury in April 2019 in a class-action lawsuit brought by a former ViSalus representative.
The class-action suit argued that the nearly 2 million prerecorded "robocalls" placed by ViSalus to potential customers violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Each violation called for a $500 penalty u...
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22, 2016 -- ViSalus CEO Ryan Blair today announced a new investor group and corporate restructuring designed to strengthen the company's balance sheet. As part of this transaction, Blair announced he is stepping down as CEO to devote more time to his venture capital firm and towards mentoring leading tech innovators. Blair will hand the reins to ViSalus Co-Founder Nick Sarnicola,...
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 17, 2016 -- As ViSalus prepares to celebrate 11 years in business, the company's continued focus on creating industry-leading high value nutritional products for consumers has never been more clear. Early results have shown that key initiatives launched at the beginning of 2016 are already paying dividends and paving the way for a personal and special customer experience with ViS...
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 19, 2016 -- Built on a decade of science and a heritage of over 3 million health transformations, ViSalus launched into 2016 by debuting its first premium superfood product, Vi-Shape® Superfood Shake. This vegan, kosher, lactose-free* and gluten-free Vi-Shape Superfood Shake formula combines hand-selected superfood ingredients for densely-packed nutrition and superior health bene...
LOS ANGELES, April 20, 2015 -- ViSalus officially launched NEON Energy Drink as part of its expanding product line portfolio at its National Success Training (NST) event in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on April 11-12. This launch marks ViSalus' entry into the canned energy drink category - furthering its commitment to providing healthy on-the-go food and drink options to the world.
NEON Energy ...
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