passion and performance type public traded as nyse whr s & p 500 component industry home appliance founded november 11 1911 ; 104 years ago 1911 11 11 benton harbor michigan u.s. founder louis upton emory upton headquarters benton charter township michigan united states area served worldwide key people jeff m. fettig chairman and ceo products major and small appliances revenue us 20.9 billion 2015 1 operating income us 1.285 billion 2015 1 profit us 783 million 2015 1 total assets us 19.010 billion 2015 1 total equity us 4.743 billion 2015 1 number of employees 97 000 2015 1 subsidiaries indesit website www.whirlpoolcorp.com showroom in hong kong the whirlpool corporation is an american multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances headquartered in benton charter township michigan united states near benton harbor michigan . 2 3 the fortune 500 4 company has annual revenue of approximately 21 billion 100 000 employees and more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world . the company markets whirlpool maytag kitchenaid jenn air amana gladiator garageworks inglis estate brastemp bauknecht indesit hotpoint and consul . whirlpool corporation is the world s largest home appliance maker . 5 in the u.s. whirlpool has eight manufacturing facilities amana iowa ; tulsa oklahoma ; cleveland tennessee ; ohio clyde findlay greenville marion and ottawa ohio . contents 1 history 2 diversity 2.1 lgbt commitment 3 charity work 4 trivia 5 major brands 6 references 7 external links history edit before they founded the upton machine company on november 11 1911 louis upton lou worked as an insurance salesman and his uncle emory upton owned a machine shop . following a failed business venture lou acquired a patent to a manual clothes washer and he approached emory to see if he could add an electric motor to the design . with the aid of a 5 000 investment from retailing executive lowell bassford they began to produce electric motor driven wringer washers . 6 7 soon after its founding lou s younger brother fred joined the company . their first customer the federal electric division of commonwealth edison ordered 100 machines but a fault in the gear transmission led the customer to threaten their return . 8 after the machines were recalled and repaired federal electric doubled the order . 9 they remained a customer for three years when they began to produce their own washers . the loss of federal electric forced upton to diversify temporarily until in 1916 they landed sears roebuck & co. as a customer . sears began selling two types of upton wringer washers under the allen brand 6 one for 54.75 and a deluxe model for 95 . sales grew quickly and in 1921 sears appointed upton as their sole supplier of washers . 6 10 to avoid becoming over reliant on sears upton began marketing a washer under their own brand name . 6 the increasing volume of sales led upton to merge with the nineteen hundred washer company of binghamton new york in 1929 adopting the name nineteen hundred corporation . the company was relatively unaffected by the great depression ; during world war ii its factories were converted to armament production . in 1947 it introduced an automatic spinner type washer sold by sears under the kenmore brand and a year later sold by the company under the whirlpool brand name . lou retired as president in 1949 and was replaced by elisha bud gray ii . 6 in response to the post war consumer demand for convenience products the company launched a range of home laundry products including wringer and automatic washers dryers and irons . 6 in 1950 the nineteen hundred corporation was renamed as the whirlpool corporation . in 1951 the philanthropic whirlpool foundation was established . to better compete with more diversified manufacturers in 1955 whirlpool acquired seeger refrigerator company and rca s air conditioner and cooking range lines . the company changed its name to whirlpool seeger corporation and began using the rca whirlpool brand name . 6 whirlpool acquires international harvester company s refrigeration plant in evansville in in 1955 . 11 in 1956 a 100 acre 0.40 km2 administrative center was opened in benton harbor michigan . in 1957 the rca whirlpool miracle kitchen was introduced with an estimated 15 million television viewers . the company changed its name back to whirlpool corporation . in 1962 the company s research laboratories won a contract from nasa to develop the food and waste management system for project gemini . 12 in 1966 whirlpool dropped the rca name so the brand name became whirlpool . the following year the company introduced a 24 hour helpline . by 1978 annual revenues exceeded 2 billion . in 1966 whirlpool purchased warwick electronics a major television producer for sears . it also included the division thomas organ company . whirlpool exited the television market in 1976 by selling the operations to japan s sanyo electronic co. 11 but retained the organ business for the electronic technology . in 1986 whirlpool acquired kitchenaid a division of the hobart corporation . it also announced that it would close most of its manufacturing facilities in the st. joseph michigan area by the end of 1988 . 7 in 1987 it began selling compact washers in india and acquired a majority interest in inglis of canada . in 1988 whirlpool bought a 53 % stake in the large appliance division of philips n.v. creating a joint venture called whirlpool international . the purchase made whirlpool the world s largest manufacturer of major appliances with annual sales of approximately 6 billion . the 47 % stake was bought from philips in 1991 completing the acquisition . 13 14 in 1989 whirlpool acquired the roper brand and bauknecht of germany . whirlpool entered the indian market in the late 1980s as part of its global expansion strategy . it founded joint venture with the tvs group and established the first whirlpool manufacturing facility in pondicherry and manufactured washing machines . in 1995 whirlpool acquired kelvinator india limited and marked an entry into the refrigerator market as well . the same year the company also saw acquisition of major shares in tvs joint venture and later in 1996 kelvinator and tvs acquisitions were merged to create whirlpool of india limited . this expanded the company s portfolio in the indian subcontinent to washing machines refrigerator microwave ovens and air conditioners . whirlpool of india limited headquartered in gurgaon and owns three manufacturing facilities at faridabad pondicherry and pune . in 1997 the company acquired a majority stake in embraco a brazilian world leading maker of compressors for refrigeration . in 2000 it acquired brazilian appliance maker multibr s owner of the brands brastemp and consul including its stake on embraco . in 2001 inglis ltd. changed its name to whirlpool canada . whirlpool continues to market inglis appliances to this day . by 2004 annual revenues exceeded 13 billion . in 2005 maytag corporation shareholders voted to accept whirlpool corporation s stock purchase . after the u.s. justice department approved the merger in 2006 the company acquired maytag including the maytag jenn air amana jade magic chef admiral hoover and dixie narco brands . it sold dixie narco to crane co. and amana commercial to aga . in 2007 whirlpool sold hoover to techtronic industries tti floorcare . 15 and jade appliances to middleby corporation . it also closed plants in newton iowa ; searcy arkansas ; and herrin illinois ; resulting in the sudden loss of 4500 jobs in the affected communities . in 2008 whirlpool announced the closure of plants in la vergne tenn ; reynosa mexico ; oxford miss ; and jackson tn . in 2009 whirlpool acquired wc woods from bankruptcy 16 and closed the company s evansville indiana plant ; 17 whirlpool has received 19.3 million in u.s. department of energy funding as part of its smart grid investment grant program 18 whirlpool celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011 and unveiled its 100th anniversary logo as well as an updated corporate logo . 19 also took over former karstadtquelle brand privileg from otto group . 20 in 2011 whirlpool announced the closure of the fort smith arkansas plant . 21 the following year whirlpool opened a new manufacturing plant in cleveland tennessee replacing a 123 year old facility . the 200 million project added about 130 jobs to an established workforce of 1 500 . the 1 million square foot 93 000 m2 facility manufactures premium cooking appliances for whirlpool s portfolio of brands . the project also includes a distribution center . 22 in august 2013 whirlpool announced it would acquire a 51 % majority stake in china s hefei sanyo a joint venture between japan s sanyo electric co now a unit of panasonic corp and hefei state owned assets holding company ltd the investment arm of the local state government for 552 million and give the company leverage to expand in the chinese appliance market . 23 in july 2014 whirlpool announced it has agreed to pay 758 million euros 1 billion to buy a 60 percent stake in italian rival indesit . 24 in december whirlpool completed a successful mandatory tender offer for the remaining shares and delisted indesit from the milan stock exchange . indesit is now a wholly owned subsidiary of whirlpool italia holdings s.r.l. 25 diversity edit whirlpool corporation has seven employee run diversity networks that are involved with business employee and community projects to address the needs of the groups they represent . these diversity networks are the women s network wwn the veteran s network wva the whirlpool african american network waan the pride network pride the whirlpool asian network wan the whirlpool hispanic network whn and the young professionals network yp . 26 lgbt commitment edit in 2004 whirlpool received a 100 % rating on the corporate equality index cei released by the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender lgbt equal rights organization human rights campaign . at the time whirpool was the first and only major appliance manufacturer to be awarded a perfect score . 27 to date whirlpool corporation has achieved a perfect cei score for 11 consecutive years . 28 notably whirlpool has offered domestic partner benefits since 2002 and has been a corporate leader nationwide on lgbt issues . additionally whirlpool was the first appliance maker to feature same sex families in its advertising in the united states . 29 charity work edit whirlpool corporation is a principal supporter of habitat for humanity a nonprofit organization dedicated to building low cost affordable housing . the company s commitment to habitat for humanity has exceeded 34 million and it has donated more than 73 000 appliances for habitat homes . the company plans to support every habitat home built globally by 2011 either through product donations cash or home sponsorship . 30 in november 2006 whirlpool started the annual building blocks program designed to raise awareness and help eliminate substandard housing in the united states . each year the program recognizes an outstanding u.s. habitat for humanity affiliate and its relationship with its local community by holding a week long build in the affiliate s community . the program kicked off in nashville tennessee in 2006 when whirlpool united 100 local residents with 100 whirlpool employees and volunteers from 100 habitat affiliates . these 300 volunteers built 10 homes on one block from nov. 5 10 2006 . whirlpool built nine homes near phoenix arizona in may 2007 and nine more homes in dallas texas in october 2008 . the 2009 build is set to begin august 31 in atlanta georgia . 31 in 2006 more than 20 whirlpool india employees participated in the week long jimmy carter work project jcwp in india which resulted in the completion of 100 homes in a village near mumbai . in 2005 whirlpool india began a partnership