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Exhibit 99.1

      Press Release

SOURCE: Herbalife International Inc.

Herbalife To Be Acquired by Whitney & Co., LLC and Golden Gate Capital, Inc.

      Existing Management Will Continue To Lead Company

LOS ANGELES--April 10, 2002--Herbalife International Inc.
(NASDAQ NM: HERBA and HERBB) announced today it has entered into a definitive
merger agreement providing for the acquisition of Herbalife by private equity
firms Whitney & Co., LLC ("Whitney") and Golden Gate Capital, Inc. ("Golden
Gate"). The transaction is valued at approximately $685 million.

The merger agreement calls for each holder of Class A and Class B Common Stock
to receive $19.50 per share in cash, representing a premium of approximately
26.7 percent to holders of Class A Common Stock (April 10, 2002 closing price of
$15.389) and a premium of approximately 35.4 percent to holders of Class B
Common Stock (April 10, 2002 closing price of $14.40). The Company's charter
requires in the event of a merger that holders of Class B Common Stock be
entitled to receive the same per share consideration as the per share
consideration received by holders of Class A Common Stock.

Frank Tirelli, President and CEO of Herbalife said, "We believe the decision by
two such high quality firms as Whitney and Golden Gate Capital to acquire
Herbalife not only provides an excellent return to our stockholders, but inures
to the benefit of the Company, its distributors and its employees as well. The
merger provides a solid foundation with committed, long-term investors dedicated
to the future success of Herbalife."

"As a private company Herbalife will be able to focus all of its resources on
its mission of improving peoples' lives by promoting wellness and health," Mr.
Tirelli said. "We are confident that with the support of Whitney and Golden Gate
Capital, the Company will be able to further solidify its leadership position in
the $50 billion per year wellness industry."

Mr. Tirelli said that Herbalife management looks forward to working with the
Whitney and Golden Gate Capital acquisition team.

The Company's Board of Directors approved the transaction following receipt of
the unanimous recommendation of a Special Committee comprised of independent
directors of the Company. The Company's Board of Directors and Special Committee
received the opinions of Barrington Associates and Morgan Stanley & Co.
Incorporated that the consideration to be paid to the Company's stockholders is
fair from a financial point of view.
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"Herbalife has always distinguished itself as being responsive to distributor
needs as it brings to consumers outstanding health and wellness products under a
great brand," said Peter Castleman, Chairman & Managing Partner of Whitney &
Co., LLC. "We are excited to partner with management and key distributors to
invest in Herbalife's future."

"Herbalife is a solid company with a professional management team, a wealth of
distributors worldwide, and a loyal customer base," said Jesse Rogers, Managing
Director of Golden Gate Capital. "Under the direction of this management team,
we believe it is possible to create new and greater opportunities for the
company's distributors, while also managing the company more effectively."

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions
including approval by the stockholders of Class A stock and the securing of
regulatory approvals. Whitney and Golden Gate have committed equity financing
and have received debt-financing commitments in connection with the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close in the late second quarter or early third
quarter 2002.

Barrington Associates, an investment banking firm headquartered in Los Angeles,
acted as financial advisor to Herbalife. Herbalife is being represented by
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Whitney by Chadbourne & Parke LLP. Golden Gate
is represented by Kirkland & Ellis.

About Herbalife

Founded in 1980 as a California limited partnership, Herbalife has become one of
the largest weight management and nutritional supplement firms in the world. The
Company offers a wide range of weight management products, nutritional
supplements and personal care products intended to support weight loss and a
healthy lifestyle. As of December 31, 2001, the Company conducted business in 54
countries in the Asia/Pacific Rim, Europe and the Americas. The Company's
products are marketed primarily through a network marketing system comprising
approximately one million distributors. In 2001, the Company had gross revenues
of $1.7 billion.

About Whitney

Whitney & Co., LLC established in 1946 by the industrialist and philanthropist,
John Hay Whitney, was one of the first U.S. venture capital firms pioneering the
development of the private equity industry. Today, the firm remains a private
partnership owned by the investing professionals and its main activity is to
provide private equity and debt capital for middle market growth buyouts.
Whitney manages approximately $5 billion of assets for major endowments,
foundations and pension plans, and the firm is currently investing its fifth
outside equity fund, Whitney V, a $1.1 billion fund, and its third private
mezzanine debt fund. Whitney & Co. investment activities are focused on market
leading companies that are poised for growth in a number of industries including
healthcare and consumer products. Whitney & Co. is located in Stamford,
Connecticut with an office in San Francisco and other professionals or
affiliates in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

About Golden Gate
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Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with
approximately $700 million of capital under management. Golden Gate is dedicated
to partnering with world class management teams to invest in change-intensive,
growth businesses. They target investments of up to $100 million in situations
where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company's
value. The principals of Golden Gate have a long and successful history of
investing with management partners across a wide range of industries and
transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, and recapitalizations, corporate
divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing.

Herbalife will file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the Securities and
Exchange Commission regarding the proposed transaction, which will include a
copy of the merger agreement.

Safe Harbor

         This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties that could affect actual future results. Such
risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability
to continue to attract, maintain, and motivate its distributors, changes in the
regulatory environment affecting network marketing sales and sales of foods and
dietary supplements, the effects of adverse publicity on sales, volatility in
the Company's earnings, consumer acceptance of network marketing, economic
conditions in the countries in which the Company operates, the presence of
possible competitors, adverse publicity, in-region cultural or demographic
factors, the risk associated with the successful consummation of the merger
transaction and other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the
Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings in recent years. For
further information, please refer to the Company's Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2001.