Direct Marketer MonaVie Receives Substantial Growth Capital from TSG Consumer Partners

[Salt Lake City, UT] – March 24, 2008 – TSG Consumer Partners, the leading provider of growth capital for branded consumer companies, has made a significant investment in MonaVie for a small, minority equity interest in the company. TSG pioneered focused investing in high-growth, well-branded consumer companies and has an exceptional 20-year track record. With approximately $1.5 billion in capital under management, TSG has invested in well-respected brands such as Arrowhead Mills, Terra Chips, Glaceau VitaminWater, PureOlogy, Smart Balance, Smashbox Cosmetics, Meguiar's, Famous Amos, MET-Rx, and Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts, among others.

"MonaVie just got stronger through our strategic partnership with TSG, and I'm excited because our distributors will be the beneficiaries, "said Dallin Larsen, founder and president of MonaVie. "Most importantly, TSG and MonaVie share the same values of focus, integrity, and results. "

Charles H. Esserman, president and chief executive officer of TSG, said that he personally embraces MonaVie's mission of providing the best products that nature and science can create as well as an opportunity that allows people to pursue their dreams. TSG is more proud of its investment in MonaVie than any other company in its history.

"Since founding TSG, I have invested in many companies that I am very proud of, which have become enormous consumer brands, "said Esserman. "With so many passionate and capable people working together, MonaVie has the potential to dwarf the growth of all of the brands we have participated in building. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for TSG, based upon the future outlook of MonaVie and its potential to help people on so many levels. "

American Red Cross Recognizes Dallin Larsen, MonaVie

[American Red Cross] – February 28, 2008 – In a letter addressed to MonaVie founder and president, Dallin Larsen, the American Red Cross expressed its appreciation for MonaVie's contributions to the relief effort during last fall's Southern California wildfires.

"As Southern California residents return to their homes and resume their daily lives, many have you to thank for sending them help and hope during the devastating wildfires, "wrote Lauri Rhinehart, vice president of development operations for the American Red Cross. "MonaVie's compassionate support made it possible for the American Red Cross to respond immediately and effectively to the victims of this disaster. "

In response to what was the largest disaster evacuation in California history, the Red Cross required 5,300 disaster workers to open 40 shelters, serve nearly 1.5 million meals and snacks, and staff 90 Emergency Response Vehicles.

At MonaVie's October 2007 Anaheim Regional Meeting, all donations to the MORE Project went directly to the Red Cross to aid those affected by the devastating wildfires in Southern California. Thanks to the generosity of its distributors, MonaVie was able to do its part to provide respite to the families affected by the catastrophe.

MFR's Economic Forecast 3rd Most Accurate in 2007 Survey

[The Wall Street Journal] – February 7, 2008 – Maria Fiorini Ramirez (MFR Inc.) was judged to have the third most accurate economic forecast out of 60 participants in The Wall Street Journal's 2007 survey process.

Maria Fiorini Ramirez has been a member of MonaVie's Board of Directors since January 2007.

Forecasters were ranked on four criteria—their estimates of quarterly gross-domestic-product growth for 2007, their inflation and unemployment estimates for November 2007, and their year-end forecast for the federal-funds rate. They submitted those estimates to The Wall Street Journal in December 2006.

Lehman's Harris Tops List of Forecasters

By JUSTIN LAHART

With its twists and turns, the economy last year was tough to predict. Lehman Brothers economist Ethan Harris came closest to the mark, taking top honors in The Wall Street Journal's economic-forecasting rankings.

While most economists expected the economy to shake off the housing slump and gain strength through 2007, Mr. Harris thought housing would continue to weigh on the economy. Despite sluggish growth, he predicted that price gains would accelerate through the year. That inflation forecast set him apart from the other 59 participants in the forecasting survey.

Mr. Harris, who was at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before joining Lehman Brothers in 1996, says that heading into 2007, he consciously tried to avoid a "sun-will-come-out-tomorrow forecast." Even so, he didn't foresee how sharply the economy would slow at the end of the year. And his projection that an inflation-fighting Federal Reserve would leave the target for its benchmark federal-funds rate, at which banks loan each other money overnight, at 5.25% through the end of the year was a full percentage point too high.

Barclays Capital economist Dean Maki, saw the economy losing steam in a way that Mr. Harris didn't, and saw inflation running nearly as hot, but his expectation that the federal-funds rate would hit 6% knocked him down to the No. 2 spot.

Rounding out the top five spots were Maria Fiorini Ramirez, of MFR Inc.; Robert McGee, of U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management; and Neal Soss of Credit Suisse. Mr. McGee took the top honors in the previous two rankings.

Forecasters were ranked on four criteria -- their estimates of quarterly gross-domestic-product growth for 2007, their inflation and unemployment estimates for November 2007 and their year-end forecast for the federal-funds rate. They submitted those estimates to The Wall Street Journal in December 2006.

The methodology for the latest rankings, which The Wall Street Journal is using for the first time, was created by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta economists Robert Eisenbeis, Daniel Waggoner and Tao Zha and spelled out in a 2002 paper. Unlike the approach used in previous rankings, it compensates for distortions that arise when the numbers get smaller. It also makes adjustments for the difficulty of forecasting more volatile measures, such as GDP, and the tendency of some measures, such as inflation and interest rates, to move in sync.

In the paper, the Atlanta Fed economists noted that forecasters' accuracy was lowest at "turning points," such as when the economy was heading into the 1990 and 2001 recessions and during the economy's "soft landing" in 1995, when it slowed markedly but avoided recession. One sign that the economy now is at a turning point: Mr. Harris's score was just 41 out of a possible 100. The average score was just 18.

The economist with the lowest score was also the most bearish: James Smith, chief economist for Parsec Financial Management. Mr. Smith thought that when the yield on 10-year Treasury note dipped below the yield on the three-month Treasury bill in July 2006, and stayed below it -- a phenomenon that always augured for a recession in the past, he says -- it meant a downturn was coming. As a result, he forecast that the economy would contract in the second and third quarters of 2007, when it was actually at its strongest. And he thought that the slump would cause a collapse in oil prices, leading to a substantial cooling of inflation.

What happened to Treasury yields "either had an unusually long lead time as an indicator, or things are different this time," says Mr. Smith. He reckons it is the latter, and that the economy will skirt recession this year.

For his part, Lehman Brothers' Mr. Harris puts the odds of a recession this year at 40%, below economists' average forecast of 49%. The Fed's rate cuts, coupled with an economic-stimulus package that is making its way through Congress should help keep the economy afloat, he says. But growth will be sluggish this year and next.

"The big problem in the economy right now is that you have way too much inventory of homes for sale, and that will continue into 2009," he says. "It's hard to imagine the consumer picking up in that kind of environment."

That will leave the economy vulnerable to recession for some time, he thinks. It should also help cool inflation, but perhaps not as much as past experiences suggest, as demand from China and other rapidly developing economies keep commodity prices from falling sharply.

Dr. Oz Acclaims Açai on The Oprah Winfrey Show

 [The Oprah Winfrey Show] – February 5, 2008 – On February 5, 2008, Dr. Mehmet Oz appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and, among other things, spoke of the highly nutritious açai berry.

Listed on his "Ultimate Anti-Aging Checklist, "Dr. Oz said he is ready to add the acai to his hall of fame of antioxidant-rich foods.

It has twice the antioxidant content [of] a blueberry, Dr. Oz said. "It's just breaking through. "