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How GE made history: a look back at an iconic conglomerate

May 8, 2024
In April, General Electric split itself up to focus on wind power, aerospace and health care. Its finance and media divisions are long gone.
A General Electric employee viewed rows of wind turbine parts in 2021. GE was an "incredible industrial company and built truly incredible things," reporter Ted Mann said.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images

Why are big corporations splitting up?

Nov 12, 2021
GE, Johnson & Johnson and Toshiba plan to divide their operations, saying the units will be more flexible, responsive and targeted.
Toshiba joined this week's parade of corporate breakups, which include Johnson & Johnson and General Electric.
Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images

Friendly breakup: After 129 years, GE plans future as 3 smaller companies

Nov 9, 2021
Separate operations focused on aviation, health care and energy will be more agile — and independent of one another's weaknesses.
General Electric said it will end its days as a conglomerate, separating into companies focused on aviation, health care and energy.
Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP via Getty Images

How one of the U.S.'s most iconic companies nearly flickered out

Jul 21, 2020
Author Tom Gryta explains how General Electric's place in the economy fell so quickly.
The logo at the entrance of GE's aviation engine overhaul facility in Brazil in 2016.
Yasuyoshi Chiba/Getty Images

Jack Welch's legacy: value for shareholders, but not necessarily for workers

Mar 2, 2020
Once upon a time, GE put share owners last in line for company revenues. That changed in the '80s and '90s.
Former GE Chairman and CEO Jack Welch, left, and then-Chairman-Elect Jeffrey Immelt announce Immelt's appointment in 2000.
Doug Kanter/AFP via Getty Images

Jack Welch, former GE CEO, dead at 84

Mar 2, 2020
Welch led General Electric for two decades, during which the company's market value soared from $12 billion to $410 billion.
Welch led General Electric through two decades of massive growth and transformation, but wasn’t without his critics.
Thomas Lohnes/DDP/AFP via Getty Images

GE freezes pensions as the benefit becomes endangered in private sector

Oct 8, 2019
General Electric is freezing its pensions for 20,000 non-union workers and will offer pension buyouts for another 100,000 former employees. GE said the move will save $8 billion, part of a plan to shed some of the company’s considerable debt. The move, from one of America’s most iconic corporations, is just one more step in […]
Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Could shedding assets spell a breakthrough for troubled GE?

Feb 25, 2019
General Electric today announced the sale of its biopharmaceutical business for more than $21 billion dollars. The buyer is Danaher Corporation, which happens to have been previously run by GE chief executive Larry Kulp, who served as chief executive at Danaher between 2001 and 2015. The move is part of an ongoing restructuring aimed at […]

How state and local governments can protect themselves while trying to lure businesses

Feb 15, 2019
This week Amazon said it wouldn’t pursue a new headquarters in New York City and GE announced it’s dramatically downsizing its planned move to Boston. GE will now rent office space there, instead of building a 12-story office tower. It will also repay $87 million in incentives it received to make the move. As cities and […]
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

GE cuts dividend to a penny per share. Why bother keeping it at all?

Oct 30, 2018
The company says it will save nearly $4 billion.
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images