Electrolux Gets New Boss As Keith McLoughlin Steps Down After Failed GE Deal

Keith McLoughlin, the CEO of Electrolux AB has resigned, the company said Monday, a month after the biggest deal in the company’s history was nixed. The Swedish home appliances maker picked Jonas Samuelson to replace McLoughlin.

McLoughlin, an American citizen who took the helm at Electrolux five years ago, said he would return to his family in the United States. His successor, Samuelson heads the company's major appliances business unit in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and has also been chief financial officer of Electrolux.

Electrolux’s efforts to buy out GE’s appliances business failed last month, as GE walked away from the deal after months of opposition from U.S. antitrust regulators. The $3.3 billion deal would have vaulted Electrolux ahead of Whirlpool as the world’s largest appliance maker.

However, the company ended up having to go to court to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s claims that the combined company would be overly dominant in the U.S. cooking-appliance business. On Dec. 7, the two companies announced that they were abandoning the plan, leaving Electrolux to foot a termination fee of $175 million to GE.

After the deal collapsed, Electrolux unveiled a plan to cut costs and jobs at its small-appliance unit, which it said was unrelated to the deal. The company said the cost-cutting measures would "reach full effect" from the end of 2016, with estimated annual cost savings of 120 million kronor ($1.4 million).

Electrolux shares were trading marginally lower Monday on the Stockholm stock exchange. The company has lost more than 20 percent, or a fifth, of its market value since December.