GE in Talks With Suitors to Sell Iconic Appliances Business

[mtn1584]

FRIG THEM....................

isn't the CEO of GE a job czar in the OB administration, and how many tax breaks has GE received from the Fed Govt? At least Whirlpool is in the Appliance business, and I don't care what anyone says, I think they make some good quality products for the money....I gave up on GE a while ago. Not one front loader was made in the US until recently, their plastic machines were and are ####....For washers and dryers ya gotta go with Alliance/Speed Queen, and for kitchen I have been with the Whirlpool family for some time now.&#92

MIKE

 

[gefilterflo]

It sort of is the writing on the wall. What I'm curious about will be the availability of parts going forward; GE parts availability is much better currently than any of the aforementioned suitors. Will Samsung/LG/Haier continue to support decades of parts for machines it didn't make?

 

[roto204]

Interesting

I don't think that, despite GE's laudable efforts at keeping jobs here, most corporations anthropomorphize successfully into the embodiment of someone with integrity. Heck, some individuals can't even do that.

It's all about the dollars, and I'm sure with a corporation as complex as GE, it's driven by equally complex motives.

Although GE has licensed its trademark before to others, part of me wonders--if this actually transacts--if the result will be similar to White-Westinghouse, wherein parts of the original company remained and wanted to keep their rights to the intellectual property with no confusion about who was whom ("W" and "Westinghouse" name and branding), so WCI had to come up with a separate set of branding for the appliance division they acquired.

 

[dascot]

I can't see Whirlpool wanting (or being allowed) to buy the entire GE appliances operation. I could see them trying to get the Hotpoint name, so that they could control both the US and European Hotpoint names...

 

[supersuds]

Hotpoint

That's an interesting idea, dascot. Companies usually like to have international control of trademarks these days.

It's been several generations since the Hotpoint name was used in North America for anything but budget appliances. Whirlpool might be able to lock up the brand name for a song.

It's too bad because Hotpoint made some really excellent products pre-1970 -- at least they were a little different.

 

[tecnopolis]

How big does Whirlpool have to get before the Dept. Of Justice steps in to prevent a monopoly.
The last thing I want is another Whirlpool based appliance. I still haven't quite got my head completely around that whole Maytag merger fiasco.

 

[henene4]

GE says:

OMG! I'm getting sucked in by (a) Whirlpool!!!
XD

 

[dascot]

Supersuds, I pondered on it while thinking back about some car industry mergers and sell offs in the past 10-15 years or more. There's been some interesting cases when a company and a brand name have been sold separately (Bentley & Rolls Royce) or when a brand has been protected from sale (Rover by JLR/Ford after the sell off of business to SAIC in China), and it wouldn't surprise me if these guys did similar.

They could bring back Hotpoint to US using a) the heritage and b) their Euro market expertise as marketing tools...

 

[combo52]

Whirlpool Can

Have as big a share of the market as they can get at this point, yes they would likely be blocked from buying GE, but they can get as big as they want if they do it by convincing appliance buyers to buy their appliances.

 

[iheartmaytag]

If I recall

Whirlpool had a time getting the Maytag purchase approved by the DOJ.    Having just purchased a new GE range last year, I hate to see them go or change, but most definitely don't want to see the Icon of the electric light. The son of Edison Electric go out of the states in ownership.   

 

Though besides Whirlpool, is there any other American appliance Manufactures ?   Then there are the venture capitalist that would whittle it apart and sell off the pieces.  

 

NO, I feel if GE sells, it is doomed like their small appliance divison.  They used to have some darned good coffee makers.  

 

[launderess]

IIRC While Few Were Totally Happy With Whirlpool Getting GE

No one wanted the Chinese firms expressing interest to get their mitts on such an iconic American brand. It really came down to the lessor of two evils as don't think there was that much interest.

Worse case would have been for one of those venture capital/turn around things to have gotten a hold of Maytag. They certainly would have gutted and or sold off, gutted and otherwise picked Maytag clean, leaving nothing left but the scraps.

 

[iheartmaytag]

I was happy with Whirlpool getting Maytag

I didn't want Maytag going to China, however, that is exactally where Hoover went when they were sold off in the acquisition.  

 

There were questions about anti-trust though, and that purchase took several months to be approved.  I just don't see a GE purchase by Whirlpool being approved.  BUT I hate the Idea of GE being sold off to a foreign company.  

 

[alr2903]

I think Maytag was pretty well gutted and whittled off long before Whirlpool acquired them.  Poor Maytag rotted from the inside out, a successful corporate raid.

 

[pierreandreply4]

what was better in the ge line of washers?

Here is a little quiz what was better in the ge line of washers the good old fashion filter flo washer line with the good old fashion filter flo pan or today line with plastic wash tubs or stainless steel wash tub if for x reason i would have to buy vintage it would be a good old fashion filter flo washer i have use a filter flo ge washer only once and that was in 1998 during a family vacation with my mom in a rental villa that was after the big ice storm picture 1 or picture 2 lol credit to the original picture taker that i am using for picture number 1

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

C'mon, Mr. CEO! What've ya got 'gainst Ava-Cada?

Aaarrrggghhh!!!! Big Decision, isn't it?! I'm gonna need time to figure this one out... (LOL!)

 

Really! The new-ownership ought'a build REPLICAS<strong> of</strong><strong> the</strong> <strong><strong><strong>'</strong>REAL</strong></strong><strong> DEAL</strong><strong> of</strong><strong> 1970</strong><strong><strong>'</strong>!</strong>

 

 

-- Dave

 

[washman]

The ink is nearly dry

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014...904?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=76

 

[roto204]

Oh, dear!

I wish I'd been wrong!

"All your bases are belong to us."

 

[kenmore71]

And according to this morning's paper the deal is done. The GE Appliance division has been acquired by Electrolux for $3.3 billion. From the AP:

 

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's Electrolux is buying the appliances business of General Electric for $3.3 billion, boosting its presence on the North American market, the companies said Monday.

The acquisition is the largest ever for Stockholm-based Electrolux, ranked as the world's second biggest home appliance maker after U.S. rival Whirlpool.

Electrolux shares rose 7 percent to 200.50 kronor ($28.27) in early trading in Stockholm.

GE confirmed last month it was in talks to sell its appliances division — maker of the first electric toaster more than 100 years ago — as part of its effort to focus on selling more complex and profitable industrial equipment.

Electrolux CEO Keith McLoughlin said the move, which needs regulatory approval and is expected to be completed in 2015, "takes our company to a new level in terms of global reach and market coverage."

Electrolux plans a rights issue corresponding to about 25 percent of the purchase after the acquisition is complete.

Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, GE Appliances' products include refrigerators, freezers, cooking products, washers and dryers and air conditioners. The division, which has 12,000 workers at nine factories, earned $381 million on $8.3 billion in sales last year, for a profit margin of 4.6 percent.

"GE Appliances' people, valuable home appliances brand, products, distribution, and service capabilities make it a perfect fit with Electrolux and its goal of accelerating growth in the U.S.," GE Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said in a joint statement from the two companies.

Other than its own brand, Electrolux sells under the Zanussi, AEG, Frigidaire and Eureka trademarks. In July it posted a second-quarter net loss of 92 million kronor ($13.5 million), citing large restructuring charges, but said demand in Europe and the United States was picking up.

Electrolux has more than 60,000 employees, including 10,000 in North America. Its North American operations are headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolin

 

[washman]

GE.......we bring good things to life

Meh.............

If I were anyone in a GE factory, anywhere in the US, I'd be typing my resume right now.

I predict that GE "branded" appliances will be Electrolux clones. Part of that "synergy" savings of $300 million that the Electrolux corporate flak spoke of.

Look for more production to head south of the border, just like in Greenville Mich, when the old Gibson factory was shuttered. Naturally and as in the past, you and I will not see the benefit of cheap slave labor in the retail price of said product.

And of course, like the the airline business, we're faced with fewer consumer choices. Thus you basically have the Whirltag family of brands vs the Electrolux family of brands. Great huh?

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

"We Done Gave Her Away!!!!"

As H. Ross Perot stated in his 1992 book, NOT FOR SALE AT ANY PRICE: "We play around with money"...

 

Quite an example of that philosophy, and more than 20-years-later since it came out, and when he'd speculated our problems w/ the US vs. Foreign Markets we were selling to, at the time of his (Ahem!) Presidential election campaign...

 

The news was just days ago...  The deal seems to have been made overnight!

 

 

-- Dave