Sale of Jade Falling Apart. Is Jade Falling Apart? Exclusive

Our sources report.............
1)  Discussions between the Bernstein family AND Whirlpool over the sale of Jade/Dynasty have hit significant problems over several "petty" Whirlpool demands, one of which seems to be related to Whirlpool wanting to keep the "Dynasty" brand but not the "Dynasty" branded inventory.  Our sources tell us that Whirlpool is now open to discussions with other suitors and that the Bernsteins are considering starting production of ranges and cooktops on their own at their SES factory.  CONFIRMED

2)  Some / Many of the skilled Jade employees have fled to stable companies. 

3)  Jade distributors have stopped paying Whirlpool's invoices in hope of getting a solution to their inventory of mis-priced, mis-balanced, and quality-hold units, and the $ millions in dealer displays.  Every distributor has this kind of inventory problem, but the urgency for Jade distributors is that this must be solved in advance of a Jade sale.  Whirlpool recently refused to meet with distributors in Chicago to solve the problems until the distributors paid their invoices.  CONFIRMED

4)  Distributors continue to sell, but from inventory only.   Whirlpool won't ship to these distributors for the reasons stated in 3).  CONFIRMED

Hell of a way to run a railroad.
UPDATE:  January 18:  Our sources indicate that AGA of UK has reached agreement (1/22: MAY NOT BE TRUE) with Whirlpool for the purchase of Jade range.  Whirlpool will keep the Dynasty brand and the French-door wall oven which will end up with KitchenAid.  The French-door wall oven, manufactured by Maytag, was one of the most exciting products at KBIS 2006.  We do not know when this deal will be confirmed.
As AGA has it's own distribution network, we wonder if Whirlpool had not already decided upon the strategy of "foisting" (and we only slightly paraphrase here) Jade's steaming pile of festering inventory upon our friendly and lovable independent distributors.  They, the cornerstone of American prosperity, whom by their own force of will built vast sales networks without which the great engines of American appliance production would choke upon their own jetsam, stand as Davids to Whirlpool's Goliath.  We at ApplianceAdvisor.com will of course remain neutral whilst the parties work out the disagreement, though we hope to print it all.
UPDATE:  January 19:  Several reports indicate that the Bernstein deal fell through when the Bernsteins came to the conclusion that Maytag/Whirlpool had overstated the value of inventory.
UPDATE:  January 22:  Mr Iain Whyte, president of AGA Foodservice, has said that AGA, in fact, is NOT buying Jade.  
Stay tuned here as ApplianceAdvisor.com tries to keep the mis-information to an absolute minimum.
UPDATE:  January 25:  So here we are, after Electrolux, Viking, GE, Samsung, AGA, and the Bernsteins to name a few.  We come to you stupified, our journalistic reputation in tatters at the hands of two brands which hardly cast a shadow on the market; the desiccated remains of Jade and Dynasty.  As your servants, we must continue, though only time will tell if we are still digging down, or finally digging out.
Our NEW source indicates that Jade has reached agreement with Middleby Corporation, a commercial pizza oven company with commercial brands such as Blodgett (another Maytag castoff), MagiKitch'n, and Toastmaster.  Could this actually be the buyer?  Sure it could, but considering our accuracy, the chances are only slightly better than the buyer actually being "YOU".
UPDATE:  February 19:  CONFIRMED  Middleby buys Jade.  Promises to keep both commercial and residential lines.