Haier

What does Haier own?
Haier Smart Home owns a portfolio of seven major home appliance brands: Haier, Casarte, GE Appliances (including GE, GE Profile, Cafe, Monogram, and Hotpoint), Fisher & Paykel, AQUA, Candy, and Hoover. The company manufactures refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, dishwashers, and kitchen appliances across these brands globally.

Is Haier publicly traded?
Yes, Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. is publicly traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under ticker 600690. The company also has D-shares listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Haier Group Corporation, the parent company, is the controlling shareholder.

What is Haier's annual revenue?
In FY2024, Haier Smart Home reported global revenue of RMB 285.98 billion, approximately $39.5 billion USD, with net profit of RMB 18.74 billion (up 12.92% year-over-year). The refrigeration segment was the largest revenue contributor at RMB 83.56 billion.

Who founded Haier?
Haier was founded in 1984 in Qingdao, China, as Qingdao Refrigerator Co. Zhang Ruimin was appointed director in 1984 and transformed the struggling state-owned enterprise into a global appliance leader. Zhang led the company for nearly four decades before transitioning to a chairman advisory role in 2021.

How did Haier acquire GE Appliances?
Haier acquired GE Appliances from General Electric in June 2016 for $5.6 billion. GE was divesting its appliance business as part of a broader portfolio restructuring. The acquisition gave Haier a major position in the U.S. home appliance market and access to GE's manufacturing facilities, distribution network, and brand portfolio including GE, GE Profile, Cafe, Monogram, and Hotpoint.

What is the RenDanHeYi model?
RenDanHeYi is a management philosophy developed by Haier founder Zhang Ruimin that decentralizes organizational decision-making into small, autonomous entrepreneurial teams aligned with specific user needs. The model aims to eliminate traditional hierarchical management layers and align employee incentives directly with the value created for users. It has been studied by business schools globally as an unconventional approach to managing a large multinational corporation.

Haier was founded in 1984 in Qingdao, China, as Qingdao Refrigerator Co., a struggling state-owned enterprise that had been losing money. Zhang Ruimin was appointed as the company's director and implemented a series of quality-focused reforms that transformed the business. In a now-famous episode from 1985, Zhang ordered employees to destroy 76 defective refrigerators with sledgehammers to demonstrate the company's commitment to quality, an act that became symbolic of Haier's quality-first culture.

The company was renamed Haier in 1991 and expanded beyond refrigerators into washing machines, air conditioners, and other home appliances through the 1990s. Haier pursued an aggressive international expansion strategy beginning in the mid-1990s, entering the U.S. market in 1999 with compact refrigerators and establishing a manufacturing facility in Camden, South Carolina, in 2000.

Throughout the 2000s, Haier expanded its global footprint through organic growth and acquisitions. The company acquired the Sanyo appliance businesses in Japan and Southeast Asia in 2011 and 2012, gaining the AQUA brand in Japan. In 2012, Haier acquired the appliance business of Fisher & Paykel, a New Zealand premium appliance brand, for approximately $763 million.

The most transformative acquisition in Haier's history was the purchase of GE Appliances from General Electric in June 2016 for $5.6 billion. GE Appliances, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, operates brands including GE, GE Profile, Cafe, Monogram, and Hotpoint in the United States. The acquisition gave Haier a dominant position in the U.S. home appliance market and access to GE's manufacturing infrastructure, distribution network, and brand equity.

In October 2018, Haier acquired Candy, an Italian home appliance company, for approximately $630 million. Candy operates brands including Candy, Hoover, and Iberna, significantly expanding Haier's presence in the European market.

Haier Smart Home was separately listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2018 through a D-share offering, providing European investors with direct access to the company's shares. The company's primary listing remains on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Zhang Ruimin, who led Haier for nearly four decades and developed the RenDanHeYi management model, stepped down as CEO in 2021. Liang Haishan succeeded him as CEO while Zhang retained the role of board chairman.

In 2024, Haier Smart Home acquired Kwikot, an established water heater brand in South Africa, continuing its strategy of building market presence in emerging markets through targeted brand acquisitions.