Whirlpool named to Fast Company's list of most innovative companies

Whirlpool Corporation on February 19 announced it ranked fifth on Fast Company's list of the World's Most Innovative Companies in the Consumer Products category.

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 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, the first equity index based on the value of corporate intellectual property, for the fourth consecutive year.

Whirlpool 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.