Wow Bosch looking to buy Whirlpool!

[mattl]

This was unexpected.

 

<blockquote>
German engineering group Robert Bosch is weighing a bid for U.S. appliances manufacturer Whirlpool. according to three people familiar with the matter, a move that would boost its position in the household appliances market.

Bosch has been talking to potential advisers about the possibility of making an offer for Whirlpool, which has a market capitalisation of about $4.8 billion, one of the sources said.

The sources said it was not certain that an offer would be made, and asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.

</blockquote>

https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2024/06/26/bosch-whirlpool-offer-appliances/74217264007/

 

[firedome]

Not good!

The very last remaining full-line large scale US maker of appliances should remain intact, independent and US owned. How many industries are we going to lose or give up producing before we get smart?... steel, TVs, radios, laptops, cars, (actual cars, not suvs & trucks), tools, and many more products, all virtually abandoned or hanging on with shrinking market share.

GE/Hotpoint is now Chinese, Frigidaire part of Electrolux, Asian brands gobbling up companies, and most of the once legendary US name brands long gone, just a few remaining as a name but actually part of WP. One more merger between the largest scale makers reduces competition, profits go elsewhere, and factories are inevitably consolidated. We all know what happens when private equity or stock driven mega-corporations take over, even one another. At least WP answers to primarily US stock-owning financial institutions and employs US workers in US factories.

If the Asian makers are eating Bosch's lunch it's their own fault. They spent too much time and money trying to suck up the auto parts market evidently. Let them buy Arcelik and WP'S Mideast/African sector and leave the US division alone. This is what happens when large cap company stock prices and predatory capitalism rules! I want the option to buy US-made by a US-owned company's appliances, period.

 

[logixx]

https://www.automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREADM.cgi?96141

 

[aussie-plugs]

Or it's insurance against Trump ...

If Trump wins and introduces the tarrifs he's spruiking, the US will only have what it can make itself because theoretically everything else will be priced off the market by comparison. Bosch (and other EU manufacturers in particular) would lose market share. By buying WP, Bosch can ensure that it has access to the US market and support US manufacturing in whatever form along the way. It may even introduce its own manufacturing lines - who knows.

Price is what people pay attention to, not country of manufacture. Asia can build stuff cheaper than US, EU or little 'ol AU ... so they continue to dominate.

 

[kalanikaau1]

Price is what people pay attention to

Valid point, I myself sometimes do make purchases based on price, it all depends on the product or service.

However for any major appliance I maintain a wide berth from the "Pakes" and "Yobos".

 

[tomturbomatic]

Do you remember when tariffs were introduced...

...by the former guy? I don't know why, although he believed that the foreign countries paid them, not American consumers (SFB). The tariffs doubled the price of German fabric softener and it still has not come down. I would hate to have a foreign corporation own all the stuff we buy (and make) and then have some maniac put tariffs on the products of our labor because the corporation was headquartered in a foreign country.

 

[gelaundry4ever]

bosch and whirlpool

What are the chances that Bosch will break into the top load washer segment when they get their hands on whirlpool or if they do?

 

[carolina128]

“ What are the chances that Bosch will break into the top load washer segment when they get their hands on whirlpool or if they do?”

From the perspective of Bosch management, the existing Whirlpool VMW platform is perfectly fine for top-load washers. At best maybe we’ll see an upgraded, Bosch branded version of a VMW (like the Maytag Commercial), but I can’t imagine Bosch designing a second top load platform unless that new platform has some market niche that the VMW can’t cover.

If we’re dreaming, maybe we’ll see a top-loading horizontal axis washer. I’d love to see one in a US size- the only one I know of is the Staber, which is extremely rare.

 

[logixx]

Bosch sell "their own" top loaders in parts of the world. No idea who makes them. These aren't HE, however.

 

[foraloysius]

Years ago Whirlpool patented a design for an American sized topload H-axis washing machine. But we never saw the end of it.

 

[appnut]

Luigi, I was pondering the ssame thing.