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The struggling retailer says it will stop selling Whirlpool's washing machines, refrigerators and other appliances. Sears will also stop offering Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air products, all of which are part of Whirlpool. Sears will sell its existing inventory of Whirlpool products but not order more. Whirlpool will keep making some products sold under Sears' Kenmore brand.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fritz Maytag, the washing machine heir who launched the microbrewery movement, has sold Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco to a pair of Bay Area entrepreneurs who plan to preserve and expand the iconic brand. No terms were disclosed for the sale of the 70-person Mariposa Street brewery and distillery that traces its roots to the Gold Rush, when local brewers produced a heady elixir known as steam beer.In 45 years at the helm of Anchor Brewing, Maytag helped spark a revival in the craft of making beer by hand and inspired thousands of entrepreneurs to follow...

NEWTON, Iowa - Maytag is voluntarily recalling 2.3 million Maytag and Jenn-Air brand dishwashers because of faulty wiring, the company and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a statement released Thursday. The recalled appliances are blamed for causing 135 fires and four injuries. Affected dishwashers were sold at department and appliances stores between July 1997 and June 2001 and sold at prices between $370 and $800. The dishwashers were manufactured in the United States. The machines should immediately be disconnected from electrical power by shutting off a circuit breaker or disconnecting a fuse, the CPSC said. Maytag will...

Dave Zweifel: Way of life expires with Maytag plant By Dave Zweifel, May 31, 2006 Of all the columns I've written in recent weeks, none has drawn more response than the one on the plight of little Newton, Iowa, losing its Maytag plant and company headquarters thanks to the latest corporate merger. Many of the letter and e-mail writers recounted their experiences almost romances with Maytag appliances. Others empathized with the folks in Newton and their scary future.An example of the letters is one from a colleague of decades ago, Charlie Forsmo, who was a printer at The Capital...

US authorities cleared the Whirlpool deal to acquire rival appliance maker Maytag, a tie-up agreed after a bidding war with a Chinese firm. The US Justice Department's antitrust division said its investigation "determined that the proposed transaction is not likely to reduce competition substantially."

BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Whirlpool Corp. said Monday it would dismiss about 730 workers at an Arkansas plant once a replacement factory in Mexico is operational. The Michigan-based company recently built a refrigerator plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, to produce side-by-side refrigerator-freezer models, beginning in 2006. The Mexican plant will employ 1,000 workers. Once the Ramos Arizpe facility is operational, about 730 employees at Whirlpool's Fort Smith, Ark., plant will be part of a layoff, currently planned for October 2006. Some models now made in Fort Smith will be shifted to the new Mexican plant, Whirlpool said....

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Haier Group, China's largest appliance maker, and its two private equity partners have dropped out of the $1 billion-plus bidding race for Maytag Corp., Maytag said on Tuesday. The prospect of a Haier takeover helped stir anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. over Asian companies gobbling up U.S. businesses. That concern has been stoked by a bid by China oil company CNOOC Ltd. to buy California-based Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion.

News to Gladden the Heart ?? Or something ! Remember that lonesome Maytag Repairman ? It looks as if he is going to have company pretty soon. Whirlpool – a major competitor – has made a whopping big offer , that will likely include a lot of debt exchange between the two giants , a REALLY big payday for shareholders , and a REALLY big boot in the tail for a lot of actual repairmen. In case that falls through, the People’s Liberation Army of China is also interested,and has made an attractive bid. (That’s not the actual name on...

Whirlpool sets $1.3 bln bid for MaytagSunday July 17, 11:36 pm ETBy Karen Jacobs ATLANTA (Reuters) - U.S. appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. on Sunday proposed to buy smaller rival Maytag Corp. for more than $1.3 billion, topping an existing buyout offer for the maker of Hoover vacuums and possibly sparking a bidding war. The Whirlpool offer of $17 a share beats a $14 a share bid by an investor group led by New York private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings. The offer represents a 10 percent premium over Maytag's closing stock price of $15.45 on Friday. The offer could ignite a...

U.S. appliance maker Whirlpool Corp. (WHR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Sunday proposed to acquire smaller rival Maytag for $17 a share in a deal worth $2.3 billion, sparking a bidding war for the maker of Hoover vacuums. Maytag, whose products include Amana and Jenn-Air appliances, agreed in May to be acquired by Triton Acquisition Holding, an investment vehicle led by New York private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings, for $14 a share. Maytag said on July 13 that the Triton deal was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, and set an Aug. 19 shareholder vote in Newton, Iowa, where it is...

Canadian oil giant EnCana is considering bringing in Chinese companies to construct and operate drilling rigs in the Colorado Rockies, as the region struggles to keep up with demand and rising energy prices. EnCana, a major player in the Piceance Basin of western Colorado, said Chinese labor is cheap and the workers are well-educated. The move would be scrutinized in Washington, where politicians are uneasy about allowing Chinese workers to acquire access to U.S.-based oil and gas facilities.

Saturday July 2, 6:33 AM Reuters Summit-Chinese may soon park money in U.S. buildingsNEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Today, it's oil and washing machines, but tomorrow, they may take Manhattan. That's how U.S. real estate experts view the bids by Chinese companies to buy Unocal Corp. , the U.S. oil company, and Maytag Corp. , the iconic American maker of washing machines and other appliances. This aggressive interest in buying U.S. companies could signal broader investment from China in the United States that would include land and buildings in major American cities, real estate experts said this week at...

BEIJING, June 27 -- Chinese home appliance maker Haier Group had raised its bidding price for U.S. appliance group Maytag Corp. to US$2.25 billion from the previous US$1.28 billion, the China Business News reported. "The acquisition group lead by Haier has promised to take up a total of US$975 million worth of Maytag debt, pushing its total bid to US$2.25 billion," the Shanghai-based paper quoted an unidentified source as saying. Earlier last week, Haier and private equity firms Bain Capital Partners and Blackstone Capital Partners offered US$16 per share, or a total of US$1.28 billion, in cash for Maytag. Competing...

WASHINGTON, June 25 - President Bush's initial response to the proposed takeover of a major American oil company by a Chinese rival has been to duck. It is not hard to see why.The $18.5 billion offer by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation for Unocal, which had already made a deal to be acquired by the American oil giant, Chevron, is forcing the administration to confront its own internal rifts over whether China should be viewed as friend, foe or something in between.

China is moving into the merger-and-acquisition major leagues, as its star corporations shop for American household names like Unocal, Maytag and IBM, looking for bigger profits through global ambitions. China's growing appetite for Western corporate icons is reflected computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd's recent takeover of IBM's personal computer business and two big deals reportedly in the making for Unocal Corp. and Maytag Corp. "I'd expect at least a half a dozen similar deals by the end of the year," said Jack J.T. Huang, chairman of international law firm Jones Day's Greater China practice. But the deals are not without...

China Cos. Show Appetite for Brand Names By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer Wed Jun 22, 8:50 AM ET China is moving into the merger-and-acquisition major leagues, as its star corporations shop for American household names like Unocal, Maytag and IBM, hoping that global ambitions will mean bigger profits. State media reports quoted unnamed officials at China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, as saying the company's board would meet this week and decide whether to go ahead with a $20 billion bid for Unocal Corp., the ninth-biggest U.S. oil and gas company. The CNOOC purchase, if it went through,...

Assuming that you worked at a US (or other Western) based firm, what would you do if a Mainland Chinese "firm"* acquired your employer? What would you do: 1) During the "courtship" period 2) During the "consumation" period 3) During the "integration" period? Please share your ideas! * By way of operational definitions, as I see it, there is no such thing as a firm - in the traditional Western sense - in Mainland China. To one extent or another, every enterprise headquartered there incurs some form of involvement by either local or national government. CCP representatives are placed within...

SHANGHAI, (Reuters) - Haier Group, the top Chinese appliance maker, and private equity giants Bain Capital and Blackstone Group have bid $1.28 billion for Maytag Corp. (NYSE:MYG - news), topping Ripplewood Holdings LLC's offer for the U.S. washer maker. Haier's global ambitions would be boosted by adding Maytag, which also makes Hoover vacuums and Amana and Jenn-Air appliances. Maytag has fallen on tough times amid rising raw material costs and competition from lower-cost makers. Maytag shares rose 6 percent on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. "Haier would get an instant credible product line," said Longbow Research analyst David...

Analysts say related position losses likely across region after Maytag closing, Mitsubishi cuts Maytag. Mitsubishi. Two strikingly different situations, with all too similar results: Hundreds of central Illinois manufacturing workers face unemployment by week's end. In all, about 2,000 workers - 1,200 from Mitsubishi Motors North America plant in Normal and 800 at Maytag's Galesburg refrigeration plant - are expected to be furloughed between Wednesday and Sept. 24. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal lawsuit filed Thursday alleges that Maytag Corp. improperly demoted some senior managers over the age of 50 because the appliance maker feared they would not be able to implement new sales procedures. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges in the lawsuit that Maytag violated federal age discrimination laws when it eliminated 13 of its 22 regional sales manager positions in 1999. Of the 11 managers who were demoted during the restructuring, eight were over the age of 50, the lawsuit alleges. Only one employee over 50 was allowed to keep his job. The regional...