Who owns iHerb? Ownership structure explained (2026)

iHerb is one of the largest online sellers of vitamins, supplements, and natural health products in the world, yet most shoppers know almost nothing about who controls it. The company ships to customers in more than 180 countries from fulfillment centers in the United States and abroad, and roughly 85% of its business comes from outside the US. It has grown into a multibillion-dollar retailer without ever trading on a public exchange.

That combination of scale and privacy makes iHerb unusual. It is not a venture-backed startup in the conventional sense, and it is not a public company answerable to retail shareholders. It sits in a third category: a founder-built business that a group of large private-equity and growth investors recapitalized, and that has spent years positioning itself for an eventual initial public offering.

Understanding who owns iHerb matters because ownership shapes the company's biggest decisions: whether and when it goes public, how aggressively it expands internationally, and how it balances its own proprietary brands against the third-party products it sells. The cap table is closely held and lightly disclosed, so separating confirmed facts from inference is essential.

iHerb was founded in 1996 by Ray Faridian, who started the business selling herbal supplements online in the early days of e-commerce. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, and operates a global fulfillment network that has expanded to include facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, along with a European office in the Netherlands.

The core business is straightforward. iHerb is a direct-to-consumer online retailer of vitamins, dietary supplements, sports nutrition, beauty products, and other natural health goods. It sells both third-party brands and its own proprietary lines, most notably California Gold Nutrition and the newer CGN Beauty range. The company competes on product authenticity, price, and international reach, positioning itself as a trusted source for buyers who cannot easily access these products locally. Like other large online specialty retailers such as Chewy in pet supplies, iHerb has built its moat on selection, logistics, and repeat purchasing rather than physical stores.

iHerb does not publish a current valuation. Its most recent confirmed financial figure is fiscal 2025 net sales of $2.9 billion, a 19% increase over the roughly $2.4 billion it reported for the prior year, a growth rate that a simple revenue calculator can project forward. The company said sales rose in 28 of its top 30 countries, that about 80% of orders came from repeat customers, and that its subscription service, AutoShip & Save, saw adoption climb sharply.

iHerb has no public stock, and its shares do not trade on any exchange. It is owned by its founder, its management, employees, and a group of private institutional investors. Because it is private and based in the US, iHerb is not required to publish a detailed shareholder register, and it has chosen not to disclose the specific ownership percentages held by any party.

Ray Faridian built iHerb as a founder-owned business for its first two decades, and he remained the controlling figure until outside investors took a large position in the company. iHerb has not publicly disclosed how much equity Faridian retains today, nor how much he sold when private-equity investors recapitalized the business. Public records and company statements do not confirm a precise founder stake, so any specific figure would be speculation.

Leadership has since passed to a professional management team, with Emun Zabihi serving as CEO. This separation of founder ownership from day-to-day executive control is common when growth investors take a significant position in a founder-built company.

iHerb did not follow the typical venture path of sequential priced rounds, which is why standard startup databases show almost no funding history. The company scaled largely on its own cash flow before a private-equity-led recapitalization brought in large institutional owners. As a result, most deal terms are not public.

Note: iHerb has never published the size, structure, or valuation of these transactions. The 2017 recapitalization led by Hillhouse Capital was widely reported to value the company in the low billions of dollars, but iHerb did not confirm terms, and the figure should be treated as unconfirmed.

Hillhouse Capital is the investor most closely associated with iHerb's shift from a founder-owned business to an institutionally backed one. The Asia-focused investment firm, founded by Zhang Lei, led a large private investment in iHerb around 2017 that gave outside capital a major position in the company. Hillhouse invests heavily across consumer, healthcare, and technology, and iHerb's cross-border supplements business fit that thesis. The exact size of Hillhouse's stake has not been disclosed.

General Atlantic is the other major institutional owner named in connection with iHerb. The growth-equity firm's investment is described as having supported iHerb's international expansion and technology development. As with Hillhouse, iHerb has not disclosed the size or timing of General Atlantic's position in precise terms.

Beyond these two firms, iHerb has not publicly identified other significant outside shareholders. The absence of a disclosed cap table is itself a defining feature of the company's ownership.

iHerb has moved toward a public listing more than once. In July 2021, the company confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed IPO. It shelved those plans in 2022, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine removed what had been a major market for the company. By 2026, iHerb was again preparing to go public, reportedly targeting a listing after the US Labor Day holiday and lining up major banks to lead the offering. A successful IPO would convert the private stakes held by Hillhouse Capital, General Atlantic, the founder, and employees into publicly tradable shares.

Emun Zabihi serves as CEO and president of iHerb, holding operational authority over the company. He has led iHerb through a period of record sales, international fulfillment expansion, and the 2026 acquisition of Vitacost. Industry groups have recognized him among healthcare-focused executives, and he was named EY US Entrepreneur of the Year 2026 for the Pacific Southwest region. As CEO, Zabihi sets strategy and runs the business day to day, distinct from the investors who hold the company's equity.

Mike Cody is iHerb's chief financial officer, a role he took on in 2021. He manages the company's finances across a global, multibillion-dollar operation and has been central to its IPO preparations. Cody has publicly framed iHerb's approach to going public as deliberate, emphasizing readiness over speed.

Ray Faridian founded iHerb in 1996 and built it into a global retailer before institutional investors recapitalized the business. His current role and residual equity are not publicly detailed. The transition from a founder-run company to one led by a professional management team, with private-equity and growth investors holding major stakes, reflects the standard arc of a bootstrapped business that later takes on large outside capital.

iHerb has not published the composition of its board of directors. Given the size of the positions held by Hillhouse Capital and General Atlantic, it is reasonable to infer that those investors hold board representation, but the specific directors and voting arrangements are not disclosed.

iHerb ships dietary supplements and health products into more than 180 countries, each with its own rules on what can be imported and sold. Supplements face very different regulatory treatment across markets, from labeling requirements to outright bans on specific ingredients. This regulatory patchwork is a structural risk for iHerb's business model, and it has led to customs holds and restrictions in various countries over the years. Ownership matters here because the company's investors are betting on continued international expansion, which depends on navigating these rules.

iHerb's decision to shelve its 2021 IPO after Russia's invasion of Ukraine underscored how exposed the company is to geopolitical events. Russia had been a significant market, and its loss materially affected the company's near-term outlook. For a retailer whose growth thesis rests on serving customers worldwide, sudden market closures are a recurring risk that shapes both financial performance and the timing of any public listing.

Because iHerb is private and has disclosed little about its ownership, valuation, and financing, outside parties have limited visibility into who controls the company and on what terms. This is not a controversy in the legal sense, but it is a governance characteristic worth noting. Until iHerb completes an IPO and becomes subject to public-company reporting, key facts about its cap table and board will remain undisclosed.

iHerb's ownership structure sits between two worlds. It is not a scrappy startup, and it is not yet a public company. It is a mature, profitable retailer controlled by its founder, its management, and large private-equity and growth investors who expect a liquidity event. That structure drives the company's most consequential choices.

The presence of Hillhouse Capital and General Atlantic introduces a clear return imperative. Both firms invest on the expectation of eventually realizing gains, most obviously through an IPO or a sale. That expectation helps explain why iHerb has repeatedly pursued a public listing, and why it has expanded its fulfillment footprint and acquired competitors such as Vitacost to build scale ahead of going public. Comparable online retailers, from Chewy to Wayfair, followed similar paths from private ownership to public markets.

Ownership also shapes competitive strategy. iHerb competes directly with Amazon and large general retailers such as Walmart in the supplements category, and it differentiates through international reach, product authenticity, and its own proprietary brands, even as omnichannel retail blurs the line between online and in-store selling across the sector. Investors focused on margin and growth have an incentive to push iHerb toward higher-margin private-label products like California Gold Nutrition, which affects what shoppers see and buy.

For customers, the practical stakes are indirect but real. A company preparing for public markets tends to prioritize consistent growth, subscription revenue, and margin expansion. That can mean more emphasis on repeat purchasing and proprietary brands, and continued investment in faster international shipping. Ownership, in other words, is not an abstract detail. It is the force behind the strategy iHerb's customers experience.

Emun Zabihi is the CEO and president of iHerb. He runs the company's day-to-day operations and has led it through record sales, international fulfillment expansion, and the 2026 acquisition of Vitacost. He is distinct from founder Ray Faridian and from the institutional investors that hold major stakes in the company.

No. iHerb is a privately held company with no public stock listing. It filed confidentially for a US IPO in 2021 but shelved the plan in 2022. As of 2026, the company is again preparing to go public, but until any offering is completed, its shares do not trade on any exchange.

iHerb was founded in 1996 by Ray Faridian, who started the business selling herbal supplements online. He built the company as a founder-owned business for roughly two decades before private-equity and growth investors took major positions in it.

iHerb has not published its cap table, so exact ownership percentages are not public. The most prominent institutional owners are Hillhouse Capital, which led a private-equity recapitalization around 2017, and General Atlantic, a growth-equity investor. Founder Ray Faridian and company management also hold equity, though the specific amounts are undisclosed.

iHerb has not disclosed its total outside funding or a current valuation. The company scaled largely on its own cash flow before the 2017 recapitalization, and it has never published the terms of that deal or of General Atlantic's investment. Its most recent confirmed financial figure is fiscal 2025 net sales of $2.9 billion, up 19% year over year.