Electrolux AB (originally Elektromekaniska AB and later Elektrolux AB) is a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm.[4] It is consistently ranked the world's largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool.[5]
Founded in 1910, Electrolux products are sold under a variety of brand names (including its own), and are primarily major appliances and vacuum cleaners intended for home consumer use.[6]
Electrolux has a primary listing on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
History
Elektromekaniska and Lux (1910–1919)
The Elektromekaniska company was founded in Stockholm on 19 January 1910 by engineer Sven Carlstedt (1847-1924), as a manufacturer of universal motors for vacuum cleaners, designed by him together with Eberhardt Seger.[7]
In 1912, Carlstedt met Axel Wenner-Gren (1881-1961), a salesman, who proposed that he start a collaboration with Lux, a company producing kerosene lamps for outdoor use founded in 1901, whose owner was Carl G. Lindblom.
Carlsted and Lindblom, convinced by Wenner-Gren, started an important collaboration between their companies: Lux specialized in the production of vacuum cleaners under license from the American Keller Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia (producer of the Santo vacuum cleaners), on which the motors produced by Elektromekaniska were mounted.
In 1915, Wenner-Gren founded Svenska Elektron, with which he was able to market his vacuum cleaner model under the Elektron brand, produced on commission by another company, which recorded a significant commercial success.
The following year, in 1916, Svenska Elektron acquired the majority of shares in Elektromekaniska, of which Wenner-Gren took over the management, and two years later, in 1918, it acquired significant shares in Lux.[7]
Elektrolux (1919–1957)
On August 29, 1919, the company name of Elektromekaniska was officially changed to Elektrolux,[8] of which Wenner-Gren was the majority shareholder and president. The new name assigned to the company was in fact the combination of the previous name and that of Lux, for which it carried out commercial distribution abroad.
Electrolux made an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in 1928 (it was delisted in 2010)[9] and another on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1930.[10]
, its shares trade on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Market and over-the-counter.[11] Electrolux is an OMX Nordic 40 constituent stock.
In 1923, the company acquired Arctic and subsequently added
Electrolux (1957–present)
In 1957 changed its name to Electrolux.[16]
While Electrolux had bought several companies before the 1960s, that decade saw the beginnings of a new wave of M&A activity. The company bought ElektroHelios, Norwegian Elektra, Danish Atlas, Finnish Slev, and Flymo, et al., in the nine years from 1960 to 1969.[15] It sold its American subsidiary to Consolidated Foods and exited the American market in 1968, only returning in 1974 when Electrolux acquired Eureka-Williams from National Union, one of the oldest names in the vacuum cleaner industry. Electrolux sold its vacuum cleaners using the Eureka brand name in North America until 2004.[17]
This style of growth continued through the 1990s, seeing Electrolux purchase scores of companies including, for a time, Husqvarna.[18]
Notable products
- 1919: The Lux vacuum is the first product Electrolux sells.
- 1925: D, Electrolux's first refrigerator, is an absorption model.[13]
- 1937: Electrolux model 30 vacuum is unveiled.
- 1940: Assistent (Swedish for assistant), the company's only wartime consumer product,[10] is a mixer[29]/food processor.[30]
- 1941: Charlton automatic rifle, an automatic rifle developed to fill in for the
Brands
Electrolux sells under a wide variety of brand names worldwide. Most of them were acquired through mergers and acquisitions and only do business in a single country or geographic area. The following is an incomplete list.
Americas
- Anova Applied Electronics,[24] provider of the Anova Precision Cooker[25][26]
- Electrolux ICON, premium consumer appliance brand sold in the U.S.[32]
Slogan
The company's international slogan is "Shape living for the better". In the past it was "Thinking of you".[61]
In the 1960s, the company successfully marketed vacuums in the United Kingdom (UK) with the slogan "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux".[62] In the United States, it was often assumed that this slogan was a brand blunder, but the informal American meaning of the word "sucks" was already well known in the UK, and the company selected it deliberately in the hopes that the slogan, with its double entendre, would gain attention.[63]
In Indonesia, the Electrolux previous slogan was "Kalau saja semua seawet Electrolux" (English: If only all are as durable as Electrolux).
See also
- Constructor Group, a former Electrolux subsidiary not involved in major appliance manufacture
External links
References
- ELUX A, Electrolux A, (SE0000103806) - Nasdaq www.nasdaqomxnordic.com^
- ELUX B, Electrolux B, (SE0000103814) - Nasdaq www.nasdaqomxnordic.com^
- Annual Report 2022 AB Electrolux