General Electric

General Electric Company

Public (NYSE: GE)
Type Dow Jones Industrial Average
Component
Industry Conglomerate
Founded Schenectady, New York (1892)
Thomas Edison
Elihu Thomson
Founder(s)
Edwin J. Houston
Charles A. Coffin
3135 Easton Turnpike
Headquarters
Fairfield, Connecticut, U.S.[1]
Area served Worldwide
Jeffrey R. Immelt (Chairman and CEO)
Key people Keith Sherin (Vice Chairman and CFO)
Beth Comstock (SVP and CMO)
Products Appliances
Aviation
Consumer Electronics
Electrical distribution
Energy
Entertainment
Finance
Gas
Healthcare
 Lighting
Locomotives
Oil
Software
Water
Weapons
Wind turbines
Revenue US$157 Billion (FY 2009)[2]
Operating income US$10.34 Billion (FY 2009)[2]
Net income US$10.7 Billion (FY 2009)[2]
Total assets US$782 Billion (FY 2009)[3]
Total equity US$117 Billion (FY 2009)[3]
Employees 304,000 (2009)[4]
GE Energy
GE Technology Infrastructure
Subsidiaries GE Capital
NBC Universal
GE Home & Business Solutions
Website GE.com

Street entrance to GE Headquarters in Fairfield, CT.

The General Electric Company, or GE (NYSE: GE), is an American multinational

conglomerate corporation incorporated in the State of New York.[5] The Company operates
through five segments: Energy Infrastructure, Technology Infrastructure, NBC Universal
(NBCU), Capital Finance and Consumer & Industrial.[6] In 2010, Forbes ranked GE as the
world's second largest company, based on a formula that compared the total sales, profits, assets,
and market value of several multinational companies.[7] The company has 304,000 employees
around the world.

o
[edit] History
[edit] Formation

By 1890, Thomas Edison had brought together several of his business interests under one
corporation to form Edison General Electric. At about the same time, Thomson-Houston
Company, under the leadership of Charles A. Coffin, gained access to a number of key patents
through the acquisition of a number of competitors. Subsequently, General Electric was formed
by the 1892 merger of Edison General Electric of Schenectady, New York and Thomson-
Houston Company of Lynn, Massachusetts, and both plants remain in operation under the GE
banner to this day.[8] The company was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant as
headquarters for many years thereafter. Around the same time, General Electric's Canadian
counterpart, Canadian General Electric, was formed.

[edit] Public company

The original version of General Electric's circular logo and trademark. The trademark application
was filed on July 24, 1899, and registered on September 18, 1900

In 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow
Jones Industrial Average and still remains after 114 years, the only one remaining on the Dow
(though it has not continuously been in the DOW index).

23 Ton diesel electric locomotive made at the General Electric Corp. plant in Schenectady, N.Y.

In 1911 the National Electric Lamp Association (NELA) was absorbed into General Electric's
existing lighting business. GE then established its lighting division headquarters at Nela Park in
East Cleveland, Ohio. Nela Park is still the headquarters for GE's lighting business. In 1935, GE
was one of the top 30 companies traded at the London Stock Exchange.[9]

[edit] RCA

The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was founded by GE in 1919 to further international
radio. GE used RCA as its retail arm for radio sales from 1919, when GE began production, until
separation in 1930.[10] RCA would quickly grow into an industrial giant of its own.

[edit] Power generation

See also: GE Wind Energy

GE's long history of working with turbines in the power generation field gave them the
engineering know-how to move into the new field of aircraft turbosuperchargers. Led by Sanford
Moss, GE introduced the first superchargers during WWI, and continued to develop them during
the Interwar period. They became indispensable in the years immediately prior to WWII, and GE
was the world leader in exhaust-driven supercharging when the war started. This experience, in
turn, made GE a natural selection to develop the Whittle W.1 jet engine that was demonstrated in
the US in 1941. Although their early work with Whittle's designs was later handed to Allison
Engine Company, GE Aviation emerged as one of the world's largest engine manufacturers
second only to the well-founded, and older, British company; Rolls-Royce plc, which led the
way in innovative, reliable and efficient, high-performance, heavy-duty, jet engine design and
manufacture.

In 2002 GE acquired the wind power assets of Enron during its bankruptcy proceedings.[11] Enron
Wind was the only surviving US manufacturer of large wind turbines at the time, and GE
increased engineering and supplies for the Wind Division and doubled the annual sales to $1.2B
in 2003.[12] It acquired ScanWind in 2009.[13]

[edit] Computing

GE was one of the eight major computer companies through all of the 1960s — with IBM, the
largest, called "Snow White" followed by the "Seven Dwarfs": Burroughs, NCR, Control Data
Corporation, Honeywell, RCA, UNIVAC and GE. Within the industry, this group was also
referred to as the "BUNCH", and IBM was referred to as "Big Blue", a name it retains today.

GE had an extensive line of general purpose and special purpose computers. Among them were
the GE 200, GE 400, and GE 600 series general purpose computers, the GE 4010, GE 4020, and
GE 4060 real time process control computers, and the Datanet 30 message switching computer.
A Datanet 600 computer was designed, but never sold. It has been said that GE got into
computer manufacturing because in the 1950s they were the largest user of computers outside of
the United States federal government. In 1970 GE sold its computer division to Honeywell.

[edit] Acquisitions
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In 1986 GE reacquired RCA, primarily for the NBC television network (also parent of
Telemundo Communications Group), The remainder was sold to various companies, including
Bertelsmann (Bertelsmann acquired RCA Records) and Thomson SA which, ironically, traces its
roots to Thomson-Houston, one of the original components of GE.

In 2002 Francisco Partners and Norwest Venture Partners acquired a division of GE called GE
Information Systems (GEIS). The new company, named GXS, is based in Gaithersburg, MD.
GXS is a leading provider of B2B e-Commerce solutions. GE maintains a minority ownership
position in GXS. Also in 2002, GE bought wind turbine manufacturing assets of Enron Wind
after the Enron scandals.[14]

In 2004 GE bought 80% of Universal Pictures from Vivendi. Vivendi bought 20% of NBC
forming the company NBC Universal. GE then owned 80% of NBC Universal and Vivendi
owned 20%.

In 2004 GE completed the spin-off of most of its mortgage and life insurance assets into an
independent company, Genworth Financial, based in Richmond, Virginia.

Genpact formerly known as GE Capital International Services (GECIS) was established by GE

in late 1997 as its captive India based BPO. GE sold 60% stake in Genpact to General Atlantic
and Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2005 and hived off Genpact into an independent business. GE is
still a major client to Genpact getting its services in customer service, finance, information
technology and analytics.

In May 2008, GE announced it was exploring options for divesting the bulk of its Consumer and
Industrial business.

For a complete list of acquisitions and divestitures, see General Electric timeline.

General Electric's Schenectady, New York facilities (including GE's original headquarters) are
assigned the ZIP code 12345. (All Schenectady ZIP codes begin with 123, but no others begin
with 1234.)

On December 3, 2009, it was announced that NBC Universal will become a joint venture
between GE and cable TV operator Comcast. The cable giant will hold a controlling interest in
the company, while GE retains a 49% stake and will buy out shares currently owned by Vivendi.
[15]

Vivendi will sell its 20% stake in NBC Universal to GE for US$5.8 billion. Vivendi will sell
7.66% of NBC Universal to GE for US$2 billion if the GE/Comcast deal is not completed by
September 2010 and then sell the remaining 12.34% stake of NBC Universal to GE for US$3.8
billion when the deal is completed or to the public via an IPO if the deal is not completed.[16][17]
On March 1, 2010, General Electric (GE) announced that the company is planning to sell its
20.85% stake in Turkey-based Garanti Bank.[18]

In August 2010, GE Healthcare signed a strategic partnership to bring cardiovascular Computed

Tomography (CT) technology from start-up Arineta Ltd. of Israel to the hospital market.[19]

In October 2010, General Electric acquired gas engines manufacture Dresser Inc. for a $3 billion
deal and also bought a $1.6 billion portfolio of retail credit cards from Citigroup Inc. This is the
first major deal since the start of the financial crisis.[20]

On October 14, 2010, GE announced acquisition of data migration & SCADA simulation
specialists Opal Software.[21]

December 2010: For the second times of this year (after Dresser acquisition), General Electric
Co. buy oil sector company British Wellstream Holding Plc. an oil drilling pipemaker for 800
million pounds ($1.3 billion).[22]

[edit] Shed non-core assets

GE Capital sold its $2 billion dollar Mexican to Santader for $162 million and exit the business
in Mexico. Santader will additionally assume the portfolio debts of GE Capital in the country.
The transaction will be finished at first half of 2011. GE Capital will focus in the core business
and will shed its non-core assets.[23]

[edit] Corporate affairs

Classic GE neon sign

GE is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. Its New York main

offices are located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Rockefeller Center, known as the GE Building for
the prominent GE logo on the roof. NBC's headquarters and main studios are also located in the
building. Through its RCA subsidiary, it has been associated with the Center since its
construction in the 1930s.
The company describes itself as composed of a number of primary business units or
"businesses." Each unit is itself a vast enterprise, many of which would, even as a standalone
company, rank in the Fortune 500[citation needed]. The list of GE businesses varies over time as the
result of acquisitions, divestitures and reorganizations. GE's tax return is the largest return filed
in the United States; the 2005 return was approximately 24,000 pages when printed out, and 237
megabytes when submitted electronically.[24]

In 2005 GE launched its "Ecomagination" initiative in an attempt to position itself as a "green"

company. GE is currently one of the biggest players in the wind power industry, and it is also
developing new environment-friendly products such as hybrid locomotives, desalination and
water reuse solutions, and photovoltaic cells. The company has set goals for its subsidiaries to
lower their greenhouse gas emissions.[25]

On May 21, 2007, GE announced it would sell its GE Plastics division to petrochemicals
manufacturer SABIC for net proceeds of $11.6 billion. The transaction took place on August 31,
2007, and the company name changed to SABIC Innovative Plastics, with Brian Gladden as
CEO.[26]

[edit] CEO

Main article: Jeffrey Immelt

Jeffrey Immelt is the current chairman of the board and chief executive officer of GE. He was
selected by GE's Board of Directors in 2000 to replace John Francis Welch Jr. (Jack Welch)
following his retirement. Previously, Immelt had headed GE's Medical Systems division (now
GE Healthcare) as its President and CEO. He has been with GE since 1982 and is on the board of
two non-profit organizations.

His tenure as the Chairman and CEO started at a time of crisis — he took over the role on
September 7, 2001[27] four days before the terrorist attacks on the United States, which killed two
employees and cost GE's insurance business $600 million — as well as having a direct effect on
the company's Aircraft Engines sector. Immelt has also been selected as one of President
Obama's financial advisors concerning the economic rescue plan.

[edit] Brand

GE has the fourth most recognized brand in the world, worth almost $48 billion.[28] The value of
the brand is enhanced by the ownership of the famous and very short GE.com domain name
which was registered August 5, 1986, years before Internet became known to the public, a
performance which places General Electric on Rank 3 of the VB.com Internet Hall of Fame.[29]

CEO Jeffrey Immelt had a set of changes in the presentation of the brand commissioned in 2004,
after he took the reins as chairman, to unify the diversified businesses of GE. The changes
included a new corporate color palette, small modifications to the GE Logo, a new customized
font (GE Inspira), and a new slogan, "imagination at work" replacing the longtime slogan "we
bring good things to life", composed by David Lucas. The standard requires many headlines to
be lowercased and adds visual "white space" to documents and advertising to promote an open
and approachable company. The changes were designed by Wolff Olins and are used extensively
on GE's marketing, literature and website.

[edit] Businesses

Main article: List of assets owned by General Electric

GE's divisions include GE Capital, GE Energy, GE Technology Infrastructure, NBC Universal

and GE Home & Business Solutions

Through these businesses, GE participates in a wide variety of markets including the generation,
transmission and distribution of electricity (e.g. nuclear, gas and solar), lighting, industrial
automation, medical imaging equipment, motors, railway locomotives, aircraft jet engines, and
aviation services. It co-owns NBC Universal with Comcast. Through GE Commercial Finance,
GE Consumer Finance, GE Equipment Services, and GE Insurance it offers a range of financial
services as well. It has a presence in over 100 countries.

GE gauges to control a railway locomotive at a museum near Saskatoon, Canada[30]

GE has also General Imaging produces digital cameras with some decent feature at a reasonable
price.[31] Even at 2010, General Imaging has released the cheapest Bridge Camera GE X5: 14MP,
15x optical zoom for only $139.00.[32]

Since over half of GE's revenue is derived from financial services, it is arguably a financial
company with a manufacturing arm. It is also one of the largest lenders in countries other than
the United States, such as Japan. Even though the first wave of conglomerates (such as ITT
Corporation, Ling-Temco-Vought, Tenneco, etc.) fell by the wayside by the mid-1980s, in the
late 1990s, another wave (consisting of Westinghouse, Tyco, and others) tried and failed to
emulate GE's success.

It was announced on May 4, 2008 that GE would auction off its appliances business for an
expected sale of $5–8 billion.[33] However, this plan fell through as a result of the recession.

[edit] Corporate recognition

In 2004, GE was named number one company for employers and employees on the Forbes 500
Global Player list.

Over the years, GE has received several awards honoring them for their accomplishments, values
and reputation:

 In Fortune Magazine's 2005 "Global Most Admired Companies" list, GE ranked first
overall. (February 2005)
 In Fortune Magazine's 2006 "America's Most Admired Companies" list, GE ranked first
overall. (March 2006)[34]
 GE was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index as one of the world's leaders
in environmental, social and economic programs.
 GE ranked ninth on Fortune Magazine's "50 Most Desirable MBA Employers" list. (April
2004)

[edit] Environmental record

GE has a history of some of its activities giving rise to large-scale air and water pollution. Based
on year 2000 data,[35] researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute listed the
corporation as the fourth-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with
more than 4.4 million pounds per year (2,000 Tonnes) of toxic chemicals released into the air.[36]
GE has also been implicated in the creation of toxic waste. According to EPA documents, only
the United States Government, Honeywell, and Chevron Corporation are responsible for
producing more Superfund toxic waste sites.[37]

In 1983, New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams filed suit in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of New York to compel GE to pay for the cleanup of what was
claimed to be more than 100,000 tons of chemicals dumped (legally, at the time) from their plant
in Waterford.[38] In 1999, the company agreed to pay a $250 million settlement in connection
with claims it polluted the Housatonic River and other sites with polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) and other hazardous substances.[39]

From approximately 1947 to 1977, GE discharged as much as 1.3 million pounds of PCBs from
its capacitor manufacturing plants at the Hudson Falls and Fort Edward facilities into the Hudson
River.[40] GE fought a media and political battle to avoid cleaning up the river and countered that
dredging the river would actually stir up PCBs.[41] In 2002, GE was ordered to clean up a 40-mile
(64 km) stretch of the Hudson River it had contaminated.[42]

In 2003, acting on concerns that the plan proposed by GE did not "provide for adequate
protection of public health and the environment," the United States Environmental Protection
Agency issued a unilateral administrative order for the company to "address cleanup at the GE
site" in Rome, Georgia, also contaminated with PCBs.[43]

[edit] Environmental initiatives

In May 2005 GE announced the launch of a program called "Ecomagination," intended, in the
words of CEO Jeff Immelt "to develop tomorrow’s solutions such as solar energy, hybrid
locomotives, fuel cells, lower-emission aircraft engines, lighter and stronger durable materials,
efficient lighting, and water purification technology,”[44] prompting The New York Times to
observe that, "while General Electric's increased emphasis on clean technology will probably
result in improved products and benefit its bottom line, Mr. Immelt's credibility as a spokesman
on national environmental policy is fatally flawed because of his company's intransigence in
cleaning up its own toxic legacy."[45]

GE has said that it will invest $1.4bn in cleantech research and development in 2008 as part of its
Ecomagination initiative. As of October 2008, the scheme had resulted in 70 green products
being brought to market, ranging from halogen lamps to biogas engines. In 2007, GE raised the
annual revenue target for its Ecomagination initiative from $20bn in 2010 to $25bn following
positive market response to its new product lines.[46] In 2010, GE continued to raise the hype by
adding $10 billion into Ecomagination over the next five years.[47]

GE Energy’s renewable energy business has expanded greatly, to keep up with growing U.S. and
global demand for clean energy. Since entering the renewable energy industry in 2002, GE has
invested more than $850 million in renewable energy technology. In August 2008 it acquired
Kelman Ltd,[48] a Northern Ireland company specializing in advanced monitoring and diagnostics
technologies for transformers used in renewable energy generation, and announced an expansion
of its business in Northern Ireland in May 2010.[49] In 2009, GE’s renewable energy initiatives,
which include solar power, wind power and GE Jenbacher gas engines using renewable and non-
renewable methane-based gases, employ more than 4,900 people globally and have created more
than 10,000 supporting jobs.[50]

GE Energy and Orion New Zealand Limited (Orion) have announced implementation of the first
phase of a GE network management system to help improve power reliability for customers.
GE’s ENMAC Distribution Management System is the foundation of Orion’s initiative. The
system of smart grid technologies will significantly improve the network company’s ability to
manage big network emergencies and help it to restore power faster when outages occur.

[edit] Educational initiatives

GE Healthcare is collaborating with The Wayne State University School of Medicine and the
Medical College of South Carolina to offer an integrated radiology curriculum during their
respective MD Programs led by investigators of the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in
Microgravity study.[51] GE has donated over one million dollars of Logiq E Ultrasound
equipment to these two institutions.[52]

Recently, GE has unveiled a 40W replacement Energy Smart LED bulb, which will be available
later this year or early 2011. The company claims that the new LED bulb will provide a 77%
energy savings and produce nearly the same light output as a 40W incandescent bulb, while
lasting more than 25 times as long.[53]
[edit] Legal issues
On August 4, 2009 the SEC fined General Electric $50 million for breaking accounting rules in
two separate cases, misleading investors into believing GE would meet or beat earnings
expectations.[54]

GE has faced criminal action regarding its defense related operations. GE was convicted in 1990
of defrauding the U.S. Department of Defense, and again in 1992 on charges of corrupt practices
in the sale of jet engines to Israel.[55][56]

[edit] Media depiction

GE was the focus of a 1991 short subject Academy Award winning documentary, "Deadly
Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons, and Our Environment"[57] that juxtaposed GE's
rosy 'We Bring Good Things To Life' commercials with the true stories of workers and neighbors
whose lives have been affected by the company's activities involving nuclear weapons."[58]

GE's corporate culture and management practices are frequently lampooned in the NBC
television series 30 Rock. In the first season episode "The Rural Juror", character Jack Donaghy
opens a complex organization chart that depicts the ownership structure of General Electric's
subsidiaries. The chart reveals that NBC is a subsidiary of Sheinhardt Wig Company, and NBC
in turn owns subsidiaries not related to broadcasting or entertainment production.[59]

[edit] In fiction
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challenged and removed. (May 2010)

In the early 1950s Kurt Vonnegut was a writer for General Electric. A number of his novels and
stories (notably Cat's Cradle) refer to the fictional city of Ilium, which appears to be loosely
based on Schenectady, New York. The Ilium Works is the setting for the short story, Deer in the
Works.

The company was also spoofed in the children's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr.
Seuss. In the drawing that depicts the Grinch stealing the Whos' feast, the icebox has a label that
reads "General Who-lectric".

The NBC sitcom 30 Rock is set at the NBC Studios in the GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Center
(hence the title). All characters in the main cast are NBC (and therefore GE) employees, and one
character, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is portrayed as having risen through the ranks of GE
management to become Vice President of NBC's East Coast operations through the company's
microwave oven division.
In two 1950s science fiction films about missions to the moon, General Electric's name appears
on the launch clocks: Destination Moon, and Rocketship X-M.

In the 1987 movie *batteries not included, character Mason Baylor identifies a piece of metal as
part of his coffee maker machine because "it said GE".