Sears, Whirlpool End 100-Year Relationship Over Pricing Dispute

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Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) has put an end to its 100-year relationship with Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR).

Sears, Whirlpool End 100-Year Relationship Over Pricing Dispute

News that the two company’s are no longer moving forward with their relationship comes from a leaked Sears memo. This memo claims that there was a pricing dispute between SHLD and Whirlpool.

The memo says that Sears will continue to sell Whirlpool appliances, but only until its current stock runs out. After this, the retailer is planning to switch focus to its own brands, as well as those from other companies.

The end of the agreement between Sears and Whirlpool means that several name-brand appliances will disappear from the store. This includes the Maytag, KitchenAid and Jenn-Air brands. However, WHR will still make parts for SHLD’s Kenmore brand.

“Whirlpool has sought to use its dominant position in the marketplace to make demands that would have prohibited us from offering Whirlpool products to our members at a reasonable price,” Sears says in its memo to employees, which was obtained by CNBC.

The finer details of the price dispute between Sears and Whirlpool are unknown. However, SHLD has been under financial pressure this year and continuing concerns about a bankruptcy haven’t been helping its stock. The company has already been closing down several Sears and Kmart locations this year to likely reduce costs.

SHLD stock was down 6% and WHR stock was down 10% as of Tuesday afternoon. SHLD stock is down 33% year-to-date and WHR stock is down 9% year-to-date.

As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/10/sears-whirlpool-shld-whr/.

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