Electrolux to Buy GE Appliances Business for $3.3 Billion

Electrolux AB has agreed to pay $3.3 billion to acquire General Electric Co.'s appliances business, a move that would put the Swedish group head-to-head with Whirlpool Corp. at the top of the U.S. market for white goods.

The deal is the largest ever by Electrolux and comes amid consolidation among makers of stoves, dishwashers and washing machines. Whirlpool agreed to pay more than $1 billion this summer to acquire a majority stake in Italian company Indesit Co. , a purchase that would roughly double Whirlpool's business in Europe.

“I used to be an Electrolux salesman in the 80s. We still have the sweeper I bought then and it still works great. I’ll keep using it till it blows up.”

- Good luck with it Sir!

I've read that Electrolux used the door-to-door sales technique already around 1912 or so when selling its first vacuum cleaner, the Lux 1.

Regards.

On my first week out solo I went to a house that already had an old Electrolux that didn't have wheels. They used to slide on the floor on a setup that sorta reminded you of a sled. The thing was bent in the middle BUT it still worked great.

I asked the lady what happened to it and she said her husband and used it to clean out his car and for got about it and ran over it with his Cadillac. She said she didn't need a new sweeper but she wanted a couple of boxes of bags.

I got back to the office and I was telling a few of the other guys about the sweeper that got run over by a car and they all wouldn't believe me.

The next morning I got called into the boss's office and he wanted to know about that sweeper. I told him and he listened and asked a few questions and asked me to take him to the lady that had it.

We went in his car and when we got their I introduced them and he asked to see the sweeper. He was super excited to see it and he told her he would buy it from her and GIVE her a brand new sweeper the best unit we sold and a years supply of bags. But she didn't want to let it go so he threw in the carpet cleaner and she finally agreed.

He then asked to take her picture with the sweeper and got her husband in the pic with a car in the background (Not the one that had ran over it because that had been years ago)

He had me get the new sweeper and the carpet cleaner out of his trunk and the bags and we unboxed them and showed them how to run them and how all the attachments worked.

I got the commission on all the stuff AND a 100 dollar spiff. They took that sweeper and used it in an advertising campaign. Later I found out that this wasn't a unique situation. There had been bunches of Electrolux sweepers that had been ran over dropped out of windows down stairs etc. and the company would try to buy them so they could use them as advertising.

I just redid our kitchen, granite and glass tiles, and it is beautiful. So of course I had to replace appliances including a new washer and dryer. I really liked the Samsung stuff but once I did a little research shied away from them. It seems they are excruciatingly expensive to fix. I read that to fix them comes really close to total replacement price.
I bought what I liked which resulted in mixed appliances. I have Kenmore washer/dryer, LG frig, Maytag dishwasher. Lol
I agree the Samsung stuff is beautiful.

Great story, thanks lot for telling it!

I have always enjoyed the Electrolux products I've used from Electrolux/Volta vacuum cleaners to Jonsered chainsaws (don't know if that brand exists in the US, but anyhow, speaking of Jonsered which is a suburb of Gothenburg, I'm one of the few people who have cut down trees with a Jonsered saw in Jonsered itself)

Electrolux doesn't focus just on mergers and acquisitions, they also invest a lot in interesting new technology and they do a lot to encourage innovation.

This is an example of the latter:

http://group.electrolux.com/en/flying-mini-robot-cleaners-win-electrolux-design-lab-2013-contest-18007/

If the video won't start on that Electrolux site I linked to, try this instead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3j4y6uJQmg

Perhaps this technology will be common in the future even if there are reasons to doubt it. 15 years ago robot lawn mowers seemed like science fiction, but today they're very popular in my country and in America too I suppose.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.