Whirlpool Corporation Named to Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies List

BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) today announced it ranked fifth on Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies in the Consumer Products category.  

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Whirlpool has been widely recognized as an innovation leader both for embedding innovation throughout the company and its culture and for delivering breakthrough designs that solve unmet consumer needs.   Whirlpool maintained its innovation investment during the economic downturn, extracting $3.8 billion in revenue from its innovation efforts in 2009.  The company has an innovation pipeline valued at approximately $4 billion and expects innovation will drive demand growth and margin expansion in 2010.

"We are pleased to be named one of the World's Most Innovative Consumer Products companies," said Jeff M. Fettig, chairman and CEO, Whirlpool Corporation.  "Whirlpool believes innovation is a sustainable competitive advantage for our company and that this recognition reinforces the importance we place on innovation at Whirlpool."

To create the 2010 Most Innovative Companies issue, Fast Company's editorial team analyzed information on thousands of businesses across the globe. It's not just about revenue growth and profit margins; it's about identifying creative models and progressive cultures – to define the many forms of innovation that exist across the business landscape.  

Overall, Fast Company recognized 250 plus companies.  In addition to its Top 50, Fast Company cited 59 Innovation All-stars, culled from past Top 50 honorees, and ranked the Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in 24 categories, including advertising and marketing, biotech, consumer products, film and TV, media, music, and sports.

Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies issue (March 2010) is on newsstands now and online at www.fastcompany.com/MIC.  

About Fast Company

Fast Company is an award-winning monthly magazine, Web site, and digital distribution platform that covers the business of innovation like no other media source. Editor Robert Safian was named AdWeek's Editor of the Year in 2009.  FastCompany.com, under the auspices of executive editor Noah Robischon and publisher Christine Osekoski, has tripled traffic and revenue year over year. Fast Company is owned by Joe Mansueto, founder and owner of Morningstar, a leading provider of independent investment research.

About Whirlpool Corporation

In 2009, Whirlpool was named one of FORTUNE's "Most Admired Companies" in the electronics industry, one of the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" by Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine and one of the "Top 50 Most Respected U.S. Companies" by the Reputation Institute.  Whirlpool also was named to the Ocean Tomo 300 Patent Index(TM), the first equity index based on the value of corporate intellectual property, for the fourth consecutive year.

Whirlpool Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $17 billion in 2009, 67,000 employees, and 67 manufacturing and technology research centers around the world. The company markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names to consumers in nearly every country around the world. Additional information about the company can be found at http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com.

This document contains forward-looking statements about Whirlpool Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries ("Whirlpool") that speak only as of this date. Whirlpool disclaims any obligation to update these statements. Forward-looking statements in this document may include, but are not limited to, statements regarding expected earnings per share, cash flow, productivity and material and oil-related prices. Many risks, contingencies and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from Whirlpool's forward-looking statements. Among these factors are: (1) changes in economic conditions which affect demand for our products, including the strength of the building industry and the level of interest rates; (2) the effects of the global economic crisis on our customers, suppliers and the availability of credit; (3) Whirlpool's ability to continue its relationship with significant trade customers, and the ability of these trade customers to maintain or increase market share; (4) intense competition in the home appliance industry reflecting the impact of both new and established global competitors, including Asian and European manufacturers; (5) the ability of Whirlpool to manage foreign currency fluctuations; (6) product liability and product recall costs; (7) litigation and legal compliance risks; (8) the ability of Whirlpool to achieve its business plans, productivity improvements, cost control, leveraging of its global operating platform, and acceleration of the rate of innovation; (9) inventory and other asset risk; (10) fluctuations in the cost of key materials (including steel, oil, plastic, resins, copper and aluminum) and components and the ability of Whirlpool to offset cost increases; (11) the ability of suppliers of critical parts, components and manufacturing equipment to deliver sufficient quantities to Whirlpool in a timely and cost-effective manner; (12) health care cost trends, regulatory changes and variations between results and estimates that could increase future funding obligations for pension and other postretirement benefit plans; (13) Whirlpool's ability to obtain and protect intellectual property rights; (14) information technology system failures and data security breaches (15) global, political and/or economic uncertainty and disruptions, especially in Whirlpool's significant geographic regions, including uncertainty and disruptions arising from natural disasters or terrorist attacks; (16) the effects of governmental investigations or related actions by third parties; (17) the impact of labor relations; (18) our ability to attract, develop and retain executives and other qualified employees; (19) changes in the legal and regulatory environment, including environmental and health and safety regulations. Additional information concerning these and other factors can be found in Whirlpool Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recent annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K.

SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation