Billionaire investor Tepper accused Whirlpool of being a pest after its stock collapsed

Appaloosa Management hedge fund founder David Tepper - one of Wall Street's best-known hedge fund managers who made billions betting on the banking sector after the 2008 crisis - sent a tough letter to the board of appliance maker Whirlpool, CNBC reports. The billionaire accused it of destroying the company's value for shareholders and called for a major strategy review. Tepper's foundation owns a large stake in Whirlpool and is unhappy with the additional share issue that caused the stock to plummet 14% on Tuesday, February 24.

In a letter to Whirlpool's board of directors, David Tepper said he watched "with some amazement" as the company floated additional shares. This, he said, resulted in a significant and unnecessary dilution of shareholder interests. Tepper believes Whirlpool replaced cheap financing with expensive financing, hurting its security holders even though it could have acted more rationally, such as by offering bonds.

"Over the years, this management team has destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars of value for shareholders. Enough is enough. There can be no more excuses," Tepper wrote in the letter, a copy of which CNBC has a copy.

After its publication quotations of Whirlpool decreased by 0.9%. From the July maximum, the company has lost almost 36% of capitalization.

Hedge fund Appaloosa Management dramatically increased its stake in Whirlpool during the third quarter of 2025. It bought more than 5.23 million shares, bringing the stake to 5.5 million. At the end of the quarter, it was valued at about $432 million. By the end of the fourth quarter, the fund had sold 1.6 million securities, but the position was still one of the largest in its portfolio, ranking eighth, HedgeFollow shows . Whether Appaloosa's share changed at the start of 2026 won't be known until mid-M Ma, when the fund releases its Form 13F report.

Whirlpool shares plunged 14% on Tuesday, Feb. 24, after announcing a secondary offering in which the company raised $454.9 million through the sale of common stock and $508.1 million through an offering of depositary shares, according to a company statement. In addition, Whirlpool sold 435,000 shares of Guangdong Whirlpool Electrical Appliances at a discounted price of $69 per paper in a private placement.

Tepper also criticized Whirlpool for failing to take advantage of duties imposed under the Trump administration. He said the company should have considered partnerships or potential mergers with less favored foreign competitors to strengthen its strategic position.

"We urge the board to be mindful of its responsibilities to honor the interests of shareholders and to prevent management from acting solely in its own self-interest," Tepper's letter said. - We also encourage inviting U.S. companies or foreign corporations that want to create U.S. jobs and increase value for shareholders to take an interest in Whirlpool," the letter said.

Whirlpool did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.

According to MarketWatch, of the 10 analysts tracking the home appliance maker's securities, five have a neutral rating (Hold), three advise selling the stock, and only two advise buying. Meanwhile, the Wall Street consensus target price target is $85.7, suggesting a potential upside of 19.5% relative to the stock's closing level on Feb. 24.