A big consumer brand is struggling and may be facing some big changes soon.
This isn't about Tupperware Brands Inc. and its pending closure of its only U.S. molding plant, in Hemingway, S.C., however. Instead, it's about appliance maker Whirlpool Corp., which may be the target of an acquisition.
Reuters reports that German engineering company Robert Bosch and its Bosch brand of home appliances is considering buying Benton Harbor, Mich.-based Whirlpool, the largest U.S.-based appliance company and the third-largest globally with $19 billion in sales, according to analysts with Statista.
It's not certain whether a final deal will happen, Reuters noted, but it added that Robert Bosch, already the world's largest auto supplier, is looking at ways to diversify its operations.
Whirlpool makes products under its own brand name along with Maytag, KitchenAid, Amanda, JennAir and others. In April, it announced 1,000 job cuts to "reduce complexity and simplify our organization model." The same month, it completed the sale of its European business to Turkey's Arcelik AS.
There's no reason to believe a change in ownership would have a direct effect on Whirlpool's manufacturing operations or its relationships with existing suppliers. After all, the biggest single appliance manufacturing facility in the U.S. — GE Appliance Park in Louisville, Ky. — is now owned and operated by Chinese appliance maker Haier. A $450 million expansion there that started in 2021 included equipment to make the site a "plastics injection molding center of excellence," so international firms obviously see value to U.S. production.
The interest from Bosch, though, increases signals that the familiar Whirlpool brand is changing.
