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Electrolux

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This article is about the manufacturer of Electrolux appliances. For other uses, see Electrolux (disambiguation).
AB Electrolux
Company typePublicly-traded Aktiebolag (Nasdaq Stockholm: ELUX B, Nasdaq: ELUXF)
IndustryManufacturing and service
Founded1919
Headquarters
Stockholm
,
Sweden
Key people
Marcus Wallenberg (Chairman of the board)
Keith McLoughlin (President and CEO)
ProductsHome and major appliances
RevenueSEK 109,132 million (2009)[1]
SEK 3,761 million (2009)[1]
SEK 2,369 million (2009)[1]
Total assetsSEK 72.70 billion (2009)[1]
Total equitySEK 18.84 billion (2009)[1]
Number of employees
50,630 (2009)[1]
Websitewww.electrolux.com

The Electrolux Group (Nasdaq Stockholm: ELUX B, Nasdaq: ELUXY) is a Swedish[2] appliance maker.[3][4]

As of 2010 the 2nd largest home appliance manufacturer in the world,[5] its products sell under a variety of brand names, including its own, and are primarily white goods and vacuum cleaners.[6] The company also makes appliances for professional use.[4]

Forbes Magazine says Electrolux is one of the top 5 companies in consumer durable goods, worldwide, and named it to its list of 130 Global High Performers in 2010.[7]

History

Formed from a 1918 cooperative agreement between sales company Svenska Elektron AB and kerosene lamp maker Lux AB,[8][9] Electrolux grew rapidly through mergers and acquisitions to become a world-class appliance manufacturer.

Sales company to major manufacturer

In 1919, a Svenska Elektron AB subsidiary, Elektromekaniska AB, became Elektrolux (the spelling was changed to Electrolux in 1957[10]). It initially sold Lux-branded vacuum cleaners in several European countries.[9]

By 1925 the company had added absorption refrigerators to its product line[11][12] and other appliances soon followed, washing machines in 1951,[13] dishwashers in 1959,[13] food service equipment in 1962,[14] etc.

Mergers and acquisitions

The company has often and regularly expanded through mergers and acquisitions.

While Electrolux had bought several companies before the 1960s, that decade saw the beginnings of a new wave of M&A activity. The company bought ElektroHelios, Norwegian Elektra, Danish Atlas, Finnish Slev, and Flymo, et al. in the nine years from 1960-69.[14] This style of growth continued through the 1990s, seeing Electrolux purchase scores[15] of companies, including, for a time, Husqvarna.[15][16]

Hans Werthén

Hans Werthén, a President and later Chairman of the Board, led the strategic core of an increasingly-decentralised Electrolux—and was instrumental to its rapid growth[15]— from 1967[15] to 1991.[17]

Restructuring

While attempts to cut costs, centralise administration and wring out economies of scale from Electrolux's vast operations where made in the 1960s and 70s,[14][15] with the focus so firmly on growth,[15] further company-wide restructuring efforts only began in the late 1990s.[17]

A public company

Electrolux made an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 (it was delisted in 2010[18]) and another on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1930.[12][19]

Currently its shares trade on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Market and over-the-counter on the main NASDAQ stock exchange, too.[20] Electrolux is a OMX Nordic 40 constituent stock.

North American trademark

In North America, the Electrolux name was long used by vacuum cleaner manufacturer Aerus LLC, originally established to sell Swedish Electrolux products. In 2000, Aerus transferred trademark rights back to the Electrolux Group. Aerus stopped using the Electrolux brand in 2004.[21] Before 2000, Electrolux-made vacuums carried the Eureka brand name, and while Electrolux continued to make Eureka-branded vacuums after it regained the right to use its own brand, it also began selling Electrolux-branded vacuums, too. Electrolux USA customer service maintains a database of Electrolux-made vacuums and provides a link to Aerus in case an Electrolux-branded vacuum cleaner was made by Aerus.[22]

Recent events

Keith McLoughlin took over as President and CEO on January 1, 2011 and became the company's first chief executive not to be Swedish.

Slogan

In the 1960s, the company successfully marketed vacuums in the United Kingdom with the slogan, "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."[23][24][25]

Americans often assumed that using this slogan was a brand blunder. In fact, the informal US meaning of the word sucks was already well known in the UK at the time, and the company hoped the slogan, with its possible double entendre, would gain attention.[26]

The company's current slogan is, "Thinking of you".[27]

Brands

Electrolux sells under a wide variety of brand names, many of them specific to a single country or geographic area and most acquired through mergers and acquisitions. The following is an incomplete list.

Notable products

File:Lux vacuum.jpg
1919 Lux vacuum

1919: The Lux vacuum is the first product Electrolux sold.

1925: D, Electrolux's first refrigerator, is an absorption model.[12]

1940: Assistant, the company's only wartime consumer product,[19] is a mixer[52]/food processor.[53]

1951: W 20, Electrolux's first home washing machine, is manufactured in post-World War II Gothenburg, Sweden.[19]

1959: D 10, the company's first dishwasher, is a counter-top model nicknamed "round jar".[10][13]

1964: Luxomatic is a feature-filled vacuum cleaner that uses self-sealing paper dust bags.[14]

2001: Launch of the Electrolux Trilobite, a robot vacuum cleaner.[54]

2002: The Washy Talky, a 'talking' washing machine, goes on sale in India.[55][56]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Results 2009" (PDF). Electrolux. Retrieved 2010-02-03.
  2. ^ Olympic Q3 net profit down 55 percent | Reuters
  3. ^ About Electrolux | Electrolux Group
  4. ^ a b About Electrolux | Electrolux Group
  5. ^ UPDATE 2-Electrolux sets new cost-saving plan | Reuters
  6. ^ "National consumer brands; Electrolux Group". Electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  7. ^ "Electrolux is named "global superstar" by Forbes Magazine ; Electrolux Group". Newsroom.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  8. ^ "History 1910-1919 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  9. ^ a b "Founding an international company; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  10. ^ a b c "Elektrolux becomes Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  11. ^ "Revolutionary products; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  12. ^ a b c "History 1920-1929 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  13. ^ a b c "History 1950-1959 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  14. ^ a b c d "History 1960-1969 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  15. ^ a b c d e f "A new president with new strategies | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  16. ^ "History 1970-1979 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  17. ^ a b "History 1990-1999 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  18. ^ "Electrolux delisted from the London Stock Exchange ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  19. ^ a b c "Growth and industrial design ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  20. ^ "The Electrolux share | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  21. ^ http://companydatabase.org/c/retail-department-stores/home-personal-care-products/quality-life/air-water/aerus-llc.html
  22. ^ http://smallappliances.electroluxusa.com/node82.asp?question=aerus&prodid=
  23. ^ Nothing sucks like an ad myth | adland.tv
  24. ^ Game over, here are the Ad Trivia Quiz answers | adland.tv
  25. ^ Snark Hunting | Nothing sucks like an Electrolux
  26. ^ The Project Gutenberg Etext of The New Hacker's Dictionary version 4.2.2
  27. ^ Vac from the Sea
  28. ^ "Brand – AEG-Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  29. ^ "Brand – Beam; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  30. ^ "Brand – Dito-Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  31. ^ "Official Electrolux ICON Site - Electrolux ICON Appliances". Electroluxicon.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  32. ^ "Brand – Elektro Helios; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  33. ^ "Brand – Eureka; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  34. ^ "Brand – Faure; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  35. ^ "Brand – Frigidaire; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  36. ^ "Brand – Gibson; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31. [dead link‍]
  37. ^ "Brand – Juno-Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  38. ^ "Brand – Kelvinator; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  39. ^ "Brand – Marijnen; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  40. ^ "Brand – Molteni; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  41. ^ "Brand – Progress; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  42. ^ "Brand – Rex Electrolux; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  43. ^ "Brand – Rosenlew; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  44. ^ "Brand – Simpson; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  45. ^ "Brand – Tornado; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  46. ^ "Brand – Volta; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  47. ^ "Brand – Voss-Electrolux ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  48. ^ "Brand – Zanker ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  49. ^ "/ Electrolux 90 Years of Innovation and Design". Electrolux.com.sg. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  50. ^ "Brand – Zanussi Professional ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  51. ^ "Brand – Zoppas ; Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  52. ^ "Svensk Köksmaskin Hushållsassistent Köksassistent Kitchen machine Kitchen Assistant - Bäst i Test". Assistent Original. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  53. ^ "History 1940-1949 | Electrolux Group". Group.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  54. ^ "Trilobite 2.0". Trilobite.electrolux.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  55. ^ "BUSINESS | Talking washing machine hits India". BBC News. 2002-04-04. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  56. ^ "Electrolux". Electroluxca.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
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