Whirlpool Corporation SuccessStory

When one thinks of home appliances, there are a few common names that instantly come to the mind. One such name would be that of Whirlpool. The American multinational giant is the largest producer and seller of home appliances in the entire world. With 8 production facilities in the Unites States alone, it has more than 70 research and technology and manufacturing houses across the globe. It has over 100,000 people employed which help in generating a revenue of 20 billion USD annually. Whirlpool Corp. is the parent company to other brands such as Jenn-Air, Amana, Maytag, KitchenAid, Inglisa and Indesit. Jeff M. Fettig serves the corporation as its Chairman and CEO and is traded as WHR on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

History And Development

Whirlpool was established back in 1911 when the uncle-nephew duo Emory and Louis Upton started the Upton Machine Company. Louis used to work as an insurance salesman, while his uncle Emory ran a machine shop of his own. After facing failure with the business, Louis secured the patent to a manual clothes washer and asked Emory to add a motor to the design so that it could function without human assistance. When this plan was met with success, Lowell Bassford, who was a retailing executive invested in 5000 USD and they began producing electric motor powered washing machines. Soon the company started having clients such as Federal Electric and Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Mergers And Acquisitions

The most crucial mergers and acquisitions to have taken place in the company’s history began within a decade of Whirlpool’s establishment. In the year 1929, the company merged with Nineteen Hundred Washer Company and adopted the name Nineteen Hundred Corporation. Soon, it acquired Seeger Refrigerator Company and RCA. Other companies acquired and merged with in the same fashion were International Harvester Company, Philips N.V., KitchenAid, Kelvinator, Embraco, Maytag Corporation and a few more. In the year 2007, it sold Hoover to Techtronic Industries and Jade Appliances to Middleby Corporation.