General Electric (USA), with whom it owned the joint venture. In 1998, the Redring and Xpelair brands also joined GDA, and Hotpoint was categorized as part of GDA Applied Energy. Indesit GEC was restructured into Marconi plc. from which Indesit Company (then called Merloni Elettrodomestici) took over and then Indesit was bought out by Hotpoint on 21 December 2001 for £121m. At this point, Hotpoint employed around 7,000 people at its four sites in the United Kingdom, three of which later closed. Indesit UK has been based at Hotpoint headquarters in Peterborough since 1 June 2003. In 2005, Merloni Elettrodomestici rebranded to become Indesit Company. At the beginning of 2007, Indesit Company launched the group's new brand architecture, Hotpoint, and combined with Ariston to form the Hotpoint-Ariston brand. In December 2008, Indesit Company acquired the final quota of shares from General Electric for US$57m. From the end of 2011, Indesit rolled out the Hotpoint brand name across Europe, replacing the names Ariston and Hotpoint Ariston. Whirlpool In October 2014, Whirlpool's had a turbulent ownership of Indesit Company as in 2015, Indesit Company released a statement announcing a safety alert for certain models of tumble dryers produced between 2004 to 2015 due to a design flaw which caused large particles of lint to escape the fluff filter into the dryer and build up around the heating element bank which posed a risk of fire. In 2016, Whirlpool began sending out engineers to perform safety modifications to the recalled dryers. In July 2019, Whirlpool finally issued a recall for the appliances and that up to 800,000 machines will either be replaced or repaired. In December 2019, Whirlpool announced a safety recall for certain models of Hotpoint and Indesit washing machines manufactured between 2014 and 2018, due to faulty door interlocks which could potentially cause the machines to catch fire. Haier In September 2014, Electrolux agreed to buy General Electric's household appliances business including the Hotpoint brand in North America for £2bn ($3.3bn). The deal was expected to close in 2015. Due to blockage by U.S. regulators, the Electrolux deal was terminated, and GE subsequently sold its appliance division to Haier of China, to close in 2016. Products Hotpoint was formed in 1911 in California and entered the British market in 1920. It is well known for its refrigerators and washing machines. The company, including sister brands Creda and Indesit, at one time