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Nu Skin lays off staff after ‘softer than expected’ third quarter

As the Provo-based wellness company grows overseas, its U.S. workforce is set to shrink

(Kelly Cannon | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Nu Skin corporate headquarters building in downtown Provo on Aug. 2, 2022.

  | Dec. 19, 2023, 12:35 a.m.
| Updated: 8:50 p.m.

Provo-based multilevel marketing and wellness company Nu Skin has laid off about 5% of its U.S. workforce, a company spokesperson said Monday.

The layoffs were foretold in recent financial reports and SEC filings. The company’s third quarter of 2023 was “softer than expected,” President and CEO Ryan Napierski said in a November news release. According to Nu Skin’s quarterly report, revenue was down roughly 7% compared to the same quarter last year, at $498.8 million this year compared with $537.8 million in 2022.

Napierski said the same thing about revenue in August 2022, before the company laid more people off.

Nu Skin has roughly 3,800 employees worldwide, according to a recent fact sheet. A company spokesperson said the layoffs will affect its U.S. workforce, but did not say how many people were let go.

One former employee posted on LinkedIn that technology teams, including web developers, user experience (UX) designers software engineers, were “hit hard.” Several affected employees on LinkedIn are Utah-based, according to their profiles — some of them with 20 years’ experience or more at the company.

The layoffs are part of a “strategic plan” referenced in a November SEC filing, adopted “to focus resources on the Company’s global priorities and optimize future growth and profitability.” Part of that plan, according to the filing, included “workforce reductions.”

The company opened a manufacturing facility in China in late November, at a cost of roughly $55 million, according to a recent news release. The facility is expected to “quadruple” Nu Skin’s production capacity in China, according to the release, and adds to the company’s growing footprint in the region.

“We have a 20-year history in Mainland China, and we continue to invest in our future in the region,” Napierski said in the news release.

Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.