Whirlpool: 5000 Jobs Going Down The Drain
Corporate earnings have been mostly better than anticipated this rooms, but that was not the case for Whirlpool Friday and the home appliance maker is slashing its workforce as a result.
Swirl, which makes washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers and other household products, recorded adjusted third-quarter earnings of $2.35 per ration on $4.6 billion in revenue. While the latter figure missed the $4.7 billion estimate by a modest border, earnings per share were a far cry below the Street’s $2.75 estimate.
“During the quarter, we experienced weaker than expected broad industry demand and elevated material costs,” said Chairman and Chief Government Jeff Fettig. Whirlpool was also “negatively impacted by recessionary demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in emerging markets and shrill levels of inflation in material costs.”
As a result of those challenges, Whirlpool is moving to reduce costs and right stuff, announcing it will cut more than 5,000 jobs (approximately 10% of its workforce in North America and Italy), in part by closing a refrigerator manufacturing loo in Arkansas by the middle of 2012. The move, and others, like a shift of dishwasher production from Germany to Poland, will stoop overall capacity by about 6 million units.
