Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Our Company
Improving life at home has been at the heart of our business for 110 years – it is why we exist and why we are passionate about what we do.
Whirlpool Corporation ("Whirlpool"), committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home, was incorporated in 1955 under the laws of Delaware and was founded in 1911. Whirlpool manufactures products in 10 countries and markets products in nearly every country around the world. We have received worldwide recognition for accomplishments in a variety of business and social efforts, including leadership, diversity, innovative product design, business ethics, social responsibility and community involvement. We conduct our business through four operating segments, which we define based on geography. Whirlpool's operating segments consist of North America; Europe, Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); Latin America and Asia. Whirlpool had approximately $22 billion in annual net sales and 69,000 employees in 2021.
As used herein, and except where the context otherwise requires, "Whirlpool," "the Company," "we," "us," and "our" refer to Whirlpool Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries.
Our Strategic Architecture
Our strategic architecture is the foundational component that drives our shareholder value creation and strategy. Below are the key components of our strategic architecture.
Unique Global Position
Whirlpool Corporation is committed to delivering significant, long-term value to both our consumers and our shareholders. For consumers, we deliver value through innovative, high-quality products that solve everyday problems while saving time, energy and water.
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We have an agile and resilient business model which enables us to succeed in any operating environment. Our proven value creating approach is enabled by our unique global position: global leading scale, accelerating our pace of innovation, best brand portfolio and best cost position.
Global Leading Scale
We are committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company.
Our global footprint includes a balance of developed countries and emerging markets, including a leading market share position in many of the key countries in which we operate. We believe we are well positioned to continue to convert demand into profitable growth.
Accelerating Our Pace of Innovation
Whirlpool Corporation has been responsible for a number of first-to-market innovations. These include the first electric wringer washer in 1911, the first residential stand mixer in 1919, the first countertop microwave in 1967, the first energy and water efficient top-load washer in 1998 and the first top-load washer removable agitator in 2021, among others. In 2020, the KitchenAid brand introduced its largest-capacity third rack dishwasher designed to help families load more dishes and run the product less, promoting water and energy savings. Our holistic innovation approach, using Design for Sustainability principles in our global platforms, connects product sustainability directly with our business goals. We are proud of our track record of innovation and our progress on sustainable innovation with eco-efficient products that reduce environmental impacts.
We are committed to continue innovating for a new generation of consumers. Our world-class innovation pipeline has accelerated over the last few years, driven by consistent innovation and a passionate culture of employees focused on bringing new technologies to market. In 2021, we launched more than 100 new products throughout the world, demonstrating our commitment to innovation, including our new premium top load washer in North America featuring the industry's first removable agitator which was named one of the "100 greatest inventions" of 2021 by Popular Science, new iF Design Award winner built-in steam oven in EMEA, and multiple new KitchenAid small appliances including espresso makers and stand mixer attachments. We also expanded our footprint in consumables with new scents of Swash detergent.
As the shift to digital continues, consumers continue to desire connected appliances which fit seamlessly into the larger home ecosystem. As a leading connected appliance manufacturer, we are excited to bring new connected products and technologies to market, including voice control with a compatible smart home assistant, food recognition and automatic laundry detergent replenishment. Additionally, in 2021, we enabled an over-the-air update to qualified connected appliances, delighting the consumer with added Air Frying capabilities in their existing products. Whether developed internally or with one of our many collaborators, we believe these digitally-enabled products and services will increasingly enhance the appliance experience for our consumers, as demonstrated by our highly rated mobile apps.
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Whirlpool manufactures and markets a full line of major home appliances and related products. Our principal products are laundry appliances (including commercial laundry appliances), refrigerators and freezers, cooking appliances, and dishwashers. Additionally, the Company has a robust portfolio of small domestic appliances, including the KitchenAid stand mixer. Prior to the divestiture of our Embraco business on July 1, 2019, we also produced compressors for refrigeration systems. The following chart provides the percentage of net sales for each of our product categories which accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated net sales over the last three years:
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Best Brand Portfolio
We have the best brand portfolio in the industry, including seven brands with more than $1 billion in revenue.
We aim to position these desirable brands across many consumer segments. Our sales are led by our global brands Whirlpool and KitchenAid. Whirlpool is trusted throughout the world as a brand that delivers innovative care daily. Our KitchenAid brand brings a combination of innovation and design that inspires and fuels the passion of chefs, bakers and kitchen enthusiasts worldwide. These two brands are the backbone of our strategy to offer differentiated products that provide exceptional performance and desirable features while remaining affordable to consumers.
Additionally, we have a number of strong regional and local brands, including Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit and Yummly . These brands add to our impressive depth and breadth of kitchen and laundry product offerings and help us provide products that are tailored to local consumer needs and preferences. Our best brand portfolio in the industry, paired with our robust investment in research and development and consumer insights, positions us well to meet trends in consumer preferences and market demand.
Best Cost Position
Our global footprint and scale provides a cost benefit on everything we do and we are committed to a relentless focus on cost efficiency. The global scale enables our local-for-local production model. We are focused on producing as efficiently as possible and at scale throughout the world.
As the global environment continues to change, we believe our demonstrated ability to execute cost takeout allows us to effectively cope with macroeconomic challenges, and we see additional opportunities to further streamline our cost structure. For example, we have already taken decisive steps to further streamline our day-to-day manufacturing operations, with the divestitures of Whirlpool China and our Turkey manufacturing location. We are also on a journey to reduce the complexity of our design and product platforms. This initiative, among many others, will enable us to utilize increased modular production and improved scale in global procurement.
We believe our cost position is clearly differentiated in the appliance industry and we are committed to even further improvement, creating strong levels of value for our shareholders, regardless of the external environment.
Value Creation Framework
Our long-term value creation framework is built upon the strong foundation we have in place: our industry-leading brand portfolio and robust product innovation pipeline, supported by our global operating platform and executed by our exceptional employees throughout the world. We first
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introduced this framework in 2017 with a clear focus on value creation and a balanced approach to grow profitability.
We have consistently been delivering at or above all these targets and during the third quarter of 2021, we updated our value creation goals, which demonstrates our confidence in our long-term success, and are supported by strong underlying drivers, such as a positive outlook on housing, strong replacement demand and evolving consumer habits. Additionally, our demonstrated value-creating go-to-market approach, lower cost base and compelling innovation pipeline position us for continued success. Our new long-term value-creation goals reflect our agile and resilient business model, which enables us to succeed in any operating environment.
Reconciliations to the equivalent GAAP measures — net sales, net earnings, return on assets "ROA" and cash provided by (used in) operating activities — for the metrics below are not provided as they rely on market factors and other assumptions outside of our control.
We measure these value-creation components by focusing on the following key metrics:
Profitable Growth Margin Expansion Cash Conversion
Innovation-fueled growth at or above
the market Drive cost and price/mix to grow profitability Asset efficiency converts profitable growth to cash
5-6% 11-12% 7-8%
Annual Organic
Net Sales Growth Ongoing EBIT Margin FCF (1) as %
of Net Sales
1) The Company defines free cash flow as cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures.
Capital Allocation Strategy
We take a balanced approach to capital allocation by focusing on the following key metrics:
We remain confident in our ability to effectively manage our business through supply chain constraints, cost inflation and other macroeconomic factors and expect to continue delivering long-term value for our shareholders.
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Regional Business Summary
North America • In the United States, we market and distribute major home appliances and other consumer products primarily under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Amana, JennAir, Roper, Affresh, Swash, everydrop and Gladiator brand names primarily to retailers, distributors and builders, as well as directly to consumers. We also market small domestic appliances under the KitchenAid brand name to retailers, distributors and directly to consumers.
• We also market Yummly , a recipe app in the United States, through the Yummly brand website and phone application stores.
• In Canada, we market and distribute major home appliances primarily under the Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, JennAir, Amana and Speed Queen brand names and small domestic appliances under the KitchenAid brand to retailers, distributors, builders, and directly to consumers.
• We sell some products to other manufacturers, distributors, and retailers for resale in North America under those manufacturers' and retailers' respective brand names.
Europe, Middle East and Africa
(EMEA) • In Europe, we market and distribute our major home appliances to retailers, distributors and directly to consumers under the Whirlpool, Indesit, Hotpoint*, Bauknecht, Ignis, Maytag and Privileg brand names. We also market major home appliances and small domestic appliances under the KitchenAid brand name primarily to retailers and distributors, as well as directly to consumers.
• We market and distribute products under the Whirlpool, Bauknecht, Maytag, Indesit, Amana and Ignis brand names to distributors and dealers in Africa and the Middle East. In Turkey, we exited our commercial operations in the second quarter of 2019 and sold our manufacturing entity in the second quarter of 2021.
• In addition to our operations in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia, we have a sales subsidiary in Morocco.
Latin America • In Latin America, we produce, market and distribute our major home appliances, small domestic appliances and other consumer products primarily under the Consul, Brastemp, Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Acros, Maytag and Eslabon de Lujo brand names primarily to retailers, distributors and directly to consumers.
• We serve the countries of Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, and certain Caribbean and Central America countries, via sales and distribution through accredited distributors.
• In July 2019, our Latin America operations sold our compressors business to a third party.
Asia • In Asia, we market and distribute our major home appliances and small domestic appliances in multiple countries, notably in India.
• We market and distribute our products in Asia primarily under the Whirlpool , Maytag , KitchenAid , Ariston , Indesit , Bauknecht and Elica brand names through a combination of direct sales to appliance retailers and chain stores and through full-service distributors to a large network of retail stores.
• In May 2021, we sold our majority interest in Whirlpool China and subsequently retained a non-controlling interest. Whirlpool China continues to sell Whirlpool-branded products through a licensing agreement in China. In September 2021, we acquired additional interest in Elica PB India.
* Whirlpool ownership of the Hotpoint brand in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions is not affiliated with the Hotpoint brand sold in the Americas.
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Competition
Competition in the major home appliance industry is intense, including competitors such as Arcelik, BSH (Bosch), Electrolux, Haier, Hisense, LG, Mabe, Midea, Panasonic and Samsung, many of which are increasingly expanding beyond their existing manufacturing footprint. The competitive environment includes the impact of a changing retail environment, including the shifting of consumer purchase practices towards e-commerce and other channels. Moreover, our customer base includes large, sophisticated trade customers who have many choices and demand competitive products, services and prices. We believe that we can best compete in the current environment by focusing on introducing new and innovative products, building strong brands, enhancing trade customer and consumer value with our product and service offerings, optimizing our regional footprint and trade distribution channels, increasing productivity, improving quality, lowering costs, and taking other efficiency-enhancing measures.
Seasonality
The Company's quarterly revenues have historically been affected by a variety of seasonal factors, including holiday-driven promotional periods. In each fiscal year, the Company's total revenue and operating margins are typically highest in the third and fourth quarter. In 2021 and 2020, we have realized a seasonality pattern that differed from historical periods due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other macroeconomic factors. In 2022, the Company expects the seasonal pattern of revenues and operating margins to return to historical norms.
Raw Materials and Purchased Components
We are generally not dependent upon any one source for raw materials or purchased components essential to our business. In areas where a single supplier is used, alternative sources are generally available and can be developed within the normal manufacturing environment. Some supply disruptions and unanticipated costs may be incurred in transitioning to a new supplier if a prior single supplier relationship was abruptly interrupted or terminated. In the event of a disruption, we believe that we will be able to leverage our global scale to qualify and use alternate materials, though sometimes at premium costs. In 2021 and 2020, our industry was impacted by supply constraints with our suppliers, factories and logistics providers, based in significant part on certain weather events and natural disasters out of our control. In 2022, we expect supply constraints and disruptions, inflation and other macroeconomic factors to continue to impact our business operations.
Working Capital
The Company maintains varying levels of working capital throughout the year to support business needs and customer requirements through various inventory management techniques, including demand forecasting and planning. See the Financial Condition and Liquidity section of the “Management's Discussion and Analysis” section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information on our working capital requirements and processes.
Trademarks, Licenses and Patents
We consider the trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets we own, and the licenses we hold, in the aggregate, to be a valuable asset. Whirlpool is the owner of a number of trademarks in the United States and foreign countries. The m ost important trademarks to North America are Whirlpool, Maytag, JennAir, KitchenAid and Amana. The most important trademarks to EMEA are Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Bauknecht, Indesit, Hotpoint* and Ignis. The most important trademarks to Latin America are Consul, Brastemp, Whirlpool, KitchenAid and Acros . The most important trademark to Asia is Whirlpool . We receive royalties from licensing our trademarks to third parties to manufacture, sell and service certain products bearing the Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid and Amana brand names. We continually apply for and obtain patents globally. The primary purpose in obtaining patents is to protect our designs, technologies, products and services.
* Whirlpool ownership of the Hotpoint brand in the EMEA and Asia Pacific regions is not affiliated with the Hotpoint brand sold in the Americas.
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Government Regulation and Protection of the Environment
At Whirlpool, we believe our vision to be the world’s best kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home, is an urgent call to action. Our commitment to sustainability is guided by this belief and brought to life through the choices and investments we make: to protect our shared environment, to support our employees’ continuous growth and ensure their safety, and to always do our best to uplift our communities. And we are uniquely placed to achieve that.
We know that an environmentally sustainable Whirlpool is a more competitive Whirlpool - a company better positioned for long-term success. Our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is an integral part of our long-term, globally aligned strategic imperatives and operating priorities. It is deeply embedded in our vision, mission and values as an organization. We continuously seek to identify ways to broaden our commitments to ESG efforts and make progress on our goal of making life in our homes, our communities and our operations better today and in the future.
We are committed to developing innovative products that drive efficiencies in water and energy use and save our consumers’ time. Because we consider consumer preferences and cultural influences, and differences in infrastructure and availability of resources (such as water and energy) around the world, our approach and impact vary by region. In developed countries such as the U.S. and in Europe, our journey in providing efficient appliances has been one of continuous success over decades of delivering on innovation while not sacrificing performance. It is these purposeful innovations that have improved the lives of millions of our consumers in meaningful ways.
Especially in developing countries, we have focused on the introduction of unique products, such as the twin tub semiautomatic washer in India. The low-cost unit allows washing of more clothes with better efficiency and significant time savings. These water and energy savings also help reduce our consumers’ utility bills and protect our environment. Our consumers can spend these time and financial savings taking care of their families in other ways.
In 2021, the Company announced a global commitment to reach a net zero emissions target in its plants and operations (Scopes 1 and 2) by 2030, which will cover more than 30 of Whirlpool Corporation's manufacturing sites and its large distribution centers around the world. We expect to achieve this target by generating and consuming renewable energy, including installation of wind turbines, solar panels and investing in off-site renewables through virtual power purchase agreements, improvements in energy efficiency and leveraging carbon removal to offset emissions that cannot be avoided. We are also committed to a 20 percent reduction in emissions linked to the use of our products (Scope 3, Category 11) across the globe by 2030, compared to 2016 levels. This target has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative, and builds on the Company's earlier reduction in emissions across all scopes since 2005. We are working to design products to make them more energy and water efficient and we are investing in innovations that automate water levels, utilize cold water settings as default, and help auto-dose detergents to further lower its environmental impacts and save consumers time and money. The Company is also taking actions to reduce waste material across all global manufacturing facilities and helping to prevent food waste through educational campaigns. In April 2021, the Company issued an inaugural Sustainability Bond to further advance its global sustainability strategy focusing on actions to drive positive environmental and social impacts.
We comply with all laws and regulations regarding protection of the environment, and in many cases where laws and regulations are less restrictive, we have established and are following our own standards, consistent with our commitment to environmental responsibility. These compliance requirements tend to pair well with our ESG focus and we believe that we are in compliance, in all material respects, with presently applicable governmental provisions relating to environmental protection in the countries in which we have manufacturing operations. Compliance with these environmental laws and regulations did not have a material effect on capital expenditures, earnings, or our competitive position during 2021 and is not expected to be material in 2022.
The entire major home appliance industry, including Whirlpool, must contend with the adoption of stricter government energy and environmental standards. These standards have been phased in
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over the past several years and continue to be phased in, and include the general phase-out of ozone-depleting chemicals used in refrigeration, and energy and related standards for selected major appliances, regulatory restrictions on the materials content specified for use in our products by some jurisdictions and mandated recycling of our products at the end of their useful lives. Compliance with these various standards, as they become effective, will require some product redesign. However, we believe, based on our understanding of the current state of proposed regulations, that we will be able to develop, manufacture, and market products that comply with these regulations.
Our operations are also subject to numerous legal and regulatory requirements concerning product energy usage, data privacy, cybersecurity, employment conditions and worksite health and safety. These requirements often provide broad discretion to government authorities, and they could be interpreted or revised in ways that delay production or make production more costly. The costs to comply, or associated with any noncompliance, are, or can be, significant and variable from period to period.
Specific to data privacy and cybersecurity, our Board exercises oversight for our global information security and privacy programs. This includes understanding our business needs and associated risks, and reviewing management's strategy and recommendations for managing cybersecurity and privacy risks. In line with this oversight responsibility, the Audit Committee receives reports on cyber program effectiveness periodically, and the Board of Directors receives a full presentation annually on cybersecurity related trends and program updates. For our employees globally, we maintain a cybersecurity and privacy training program that includes training, simulated phishing exercises, and regular publications on our Company portal. Additionally, we maintain a privacy program that manages compliance to privacy regulations globally.
Additionally, in line with the guidelines provided by health organizations around the world and consistent with our commitment to employee health and safety as our highest priority, we have added various health and safety measures in our manufacturing, service, sales and administrative offices, warehouse and distribution spaces in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These actions include provision of personal protection equipment to employees, increased manufacturing line spacing or protective barriers to accommodate physical distancing guidelines, temperature screening, on-site COVID-19 vaccination clinics and increased enablement of remote working. We may incur significant pandemic-related expenses for additional actions in the future, in line with our commitment to employee health and safety.
Human Capital Management
At Whirlpool, our values guide everything we do. We are committed to the highest standards of ethical and legal conduct and have created an environment where open and honest communication is the expectation, not the exception. We hold our employees to this standard and offer the same in return. Our Integrity Manual was created to help our employees follow our commitment to win the right way. Additionally, our Supplier Code of Conduct formalizes the key principles under which Whirlpool’s suppliers are required to operate.
Our Human Capital Strategy is built around three pillars:
Extraordinary Performance
Our employees are a critical driver of Whirlpool’s global business results. On December 31, 2021, Whirlpool employed approximately 69,000 employees across 49 countries, with 30 percent located within the United States. Outside of the United States, our largest employee populations were located within Brazil and Mexico. We regularly monitor various key performance indicators around the human capital priorities of attracting, retaining, and engaging our global talent. In addition, we enable the execution of our strategic priorities by providing all employees with access to learning opportunities to improve critical skills, and to develop professional and leadership acumen.
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Great People
We have a long tradition of measuring employee engagement through our employee engagement surveys. We continued to use frequent global pulse surveys with coverage of broader engagement and well-being topics.
Whirlpool offers a variety of programs globally to protect the health and safety of our employees. While we maintain targets for year-over-year reduction of the total recordable incident rate and serious injuries, our goal is always zero. In 2021, we continued to focus on the demands within the context of COVID-19 challenges. While most employees continued to work on-site throughout the pandemic in manufacturing plants or other locations where remote work was not feasible, many service, sales and administrative employees returned to our workplaces from a remote work environment, where possible. In addition, we implemented additional safeguards in our plants consistent with the guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health organizations around the world.
Whirlpool has a proud history of providing our employees with comprehensive and competitive benefits packages and we continue to invest in our employees' health and well being. In 2021, we conducted a benefits survey to more closely tailor our offerings to the needs of our employees.
Winning Culture
Our culture is underpinned by our enduring values, which have long been pillared by inclusion and diversity. Whirlpool has a history of prioritizing issues such as gender and racial equality among our people. For the past 19 years, Whirlpool Corporation has achieved a perfect 100 on the Corporate Equality Index, marking nearly two decades of commitment to inclusion in the workplace. This broad organizational commitment was again demonstrated in 2021 with extensive participation in our third annual global inclusion week. Additionally, Whirlpool’s employee resource groups (ERGs) continue to raise awareness for an inclusive culture, representing eight under-represented groups in North America; two in our Europe, Middle East, Africa region; four in the Latin America region; and one in Asia.
In 2021, we progressed in our Pledge to Equality and Fairness for our Black Colleagues in the United States, which we established in 2020. At its core, the pledge is a zero tolerance policy for racial marginalization within the Company and the communities in which we operate. The pledge is a multi-year action plan, comprising 16 work streams, each led by a senior leader, and overseen by a steering committee of Executive Committee members. We also are launching robust Unconscious Bias and Empathy training for all people leaders and broke ground on the building of a multi-family housing development in the city of Benton Harbor, Michigan, as part of our housing commitment to attract diverse occupants as residents of the community. While our actions focus on our “four walls” and our local communities, we hope that these actions will have a ripple effect on society at large. In 2020, we announced that our Chairman and CEO Marc Bitzer is a founding member of OneTen, a coalition of leading executives with the mission to train, hire and advance one million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement.
For additional information, please see Whirlpool’s website, and forthcoming 2022 Proxy Statement and 2021 Sustainability Report, which we expect to release in early March 2022. The contents of our Sustainability Report and the Company's website are not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K or in any other report or document we file with the SEC.
Other Information
For information about the challenges and risks associated with our foreign operations, see "Risk Factors" under Item 1A.
Whirlpool is a major supplier of laundry, refrigeration, cooking and dishwasher home appliances to Lowe's, a North American retailer. Net sales attributable to Lowe's in 2021, 2020 and 2019, were approximately 13% of our consolidated net sales for each of the three years. Lowe's also
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represented approximately 21% and 14% of our consolidated accounts receivable as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. See Note 16 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
For information on our global restructuring plans, and the impact of these plans on our operating segments, see Note 14 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
Information About Our Executive Officers
The following table sets forth the names and ages of our executive officers on February 10, 2022, the positions and offices they held on that date, and the year they first became executive officers:
Name Office First Became
an Executive
Officer Age
Marc R. Bitzer Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer 2006 57
James W. Peters Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 2016 52
Joseph T. Liotine President and Chief Operating Officer 2014 49
João C. Brega Executive Vice President and President, Whirlpool Latin America 2012 58
Carl E. Winn Everhart Executive Vice President and President, Whirlpool North America 2021 44
Gilles Morel Executive Vice President and President, Whirlpool Europe, Middle East & Africa 2019 56
Shengpo (Samuel) Wu Executive Vice President and President, Whirlpool Asia 2019 55
The executive officers named above were elected by our Board of Directors to serve in the office indicated until the first meeting of the Board of Directors following the annual meeting of stockholders in 2022 and until a successor is chosen and qualified or until the executive officer's earlier resignation or removal. Each of our executive officers has held the position set forth in the table above or has served Whirlpool in various executive or administrative capacities for at least the past five years, except for Mr. Morel and Mr. Everhart. Prior to joining Whirlpool in April 2019, Mr. Morel served for two years as CEO of Northern and Central Europe for Groupe Savencia. Prior to that, he worked for 27 years at Mars Inc. in various leadership positions, most recently as Regional President, Europe & Eurasia for Mars Chocolate. Prior to joining Whirlpool in October 2020, Mr. Everhart served The Coca-Cola Company in various leadership roles, most recently as the President and General Manager of Coca-Cola Philippines.
Available Information
Financial results and investor information (including Whirlpool's Form 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K reports) are accessible at Whirlpool's investor website: investors.whirlpoolcorp.com . Copies of our Form 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K reports and amendments, if any, are available free of charge through our website on the same day they are filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We routinely post important information for investors on our website, whirlpoolcorp.com, in the "Investors" section. We also intend to update the Hot Topics Q&A portion of this website as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investors section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document.
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