General Electric
The General Electric Company, or GE, NYSE: GE is a multinational technology and services company. Going into 2005, it was the world's largest corporation in terms of market cap ([1]). However, on the back of high oil prices, ExxonMobil has outranked GE for most of 2005. It should not be confused with The General Electric Company plc, which was renamed Marconi plc in 1999. In the 1960s, peculiarities in U.S. tax laws and accounting practices made it fashionable to assemble conglomerates. GE, which was a conglomerate long before the term was coined, is one of the very few corporations to achieve great success with this kind of organization. HistoryIn 1876, Thomas Alva Edison opened a new laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Out of the laboratory was to come perhaps the most famous invention of all—a successful development of the incandescent electric lamp. By 1890, Edison had organized his various businesses into the Edison General Electric Company. In 1879, Elihu Thomson and E. J. Houston formed the rival Thomson-Houston Company. It merged with various companies and was later led by Charles A. Coffin, a former shoe manufacturer from Lynn, Massachusetts. Mergers with competitors and the patent rights owned by each company put them into dominant positions in the electrical industry. As businesses expanded, it became increasingly difficult for either company to produce complete electrical installations relying solely on their own technology. In 1892, these two major companies combined to form the General Electric Company, with its headquarters in Schenectady, New York. In 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly-formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. GE is the only one that remains today. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was founded by GE and AT&T in 1919 to further international radio. General Electric was one of the eight major computer companies (with IBM - the largest, Burroughs, Scientific Data Systems, Control Data Corporation, Honeywell, RCA and UNIVAC) through most of the 1960s. GE had an extensive line of general purpose and special purpose computers. Among them were the GE 215, GE 225, GE 235 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 the computer manufacturing business because in the 1950's they were the largest user of computers outside of the Federal Government. In 1970 GE sold its computer division to Honeywell. In 1986, GE re-acquired RCA, primarily for the NBC television network. The rest was sold to various companies, including Bertelsmann AG and Thomson. In 2004, GE bought from Vivendi Universal the television and movie assets and became the third largest media conglomerate in the world. The new company was named NBC Universal. Also in 2004, GE completed the spinoff of most of its life and mortgage insurance assets into an independent company, Genworth Financial, based in Richmond, Virginia. In that same year, GE also acquired the credit card unit of the department store Dillard's for $1.25 billion. In 2005, General Electric bought the financial assets of the Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier for $1.4 billion [2] TodayGE is an enormous multinational industrial company headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. GE describes itself as composed of a number of primary business units or "businesses." Each "business" is itself a vast enterprise, any of which would, if separate, rank in the Fortune 500 by itself. The list of GE businesses varies over time as the result of acquisitions, disposals and reorganizations. GE subsidiaries
Through these businesses, GE participates in a wide variety of markets including the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, lighting, industrial automation, medical imaging equipment, motors, railway locomotives, aircraft jet engines, aviation services and materials such as plastics, silicones and abrasives. It was co-founder and is 80% owner (with Vivendi Universal) of NBC Universal, the National Broadcasting Company. As 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. Interestingly, over half of GE's revenue is derived from financial services, ostensibly making it 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, 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. Jack WelchThe CEO from 1981-2001 was Jack Welch, who many regard as one of the premier business managers of his era. Nicknamed "Neutron Jack", he presided over a 28-fold increase in earnings (on a 5-fold increase in revenue) with his policy (referred to by detractors as "rank and yank") of sacking the worst performing 10% of his staff every year. In running GE's many diverse businesses he maintained a policy of only keeping those businesses which were #1 or #2 within their respective industries. In 1987, GE was the United States' second largest nuclear power company and third largest producer of nuclear weapons systems. Jack Welch introduced the use of the six sigma quality system, originally developed at Motorola, within GE. Comments
ManagementJob: name, age, pay
Conference calls
Analyst coverageSee Yahoo! analyst converage
FinancialsSEC filings including 10-k
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SEC filings including 10-k. At the time of writing, the market is still awaiting this move. See Yahoo! analyst converage. The state increased its stake in Gazprom to over 50% instead by paying cash for a 10.4% stake, thus fulfilling the main pre-condition for the abolition of restrictions on foreign ownership of Gazprom shares. Job: name, age, pay. Instead, Rosneft remained independent, to the delight of its own management. Jack Welch introduced the use of the six sigma quality system, originally developed at Motorola, within GE. After Rosneft had appropriated such a large and controversial asset, the technicalities of merging it into Gazprom became too complicated. In 1987, GE was the United States' second largest nuclear power company and third largest producer of nuclear weapons systems. Fearing that it would fall foul of US law, Gazprom backed away from buying Yukos' main asset when the Russian government auctioned it in December 2004, leaving the more gung-ho Rosneft to buy it. In running GE's many diverse businesses he maintained a policy of only keeping those businesses which were #1 or #2 within their respective industries. However, Gazprom was foiled both in its attempt to acquire Rosneft, and its earlier attempt to buy the core asset of Yukos, when Yukos filed for bankruptcy in Houston. Nicknamed "Neutron Jack", he presided over a 28-fold increase in earnings (on a 5-fold increase in revenue) with his policy (referred to by detractors as "rank and yank") of sacking the worst performing 10% of his staff every year. [1]. The CEO from 1981-2001 was Jack Welch, who many regard as one of the premier business managers of his era. In 2004, President Putin announced that Gazprom is acquiring the state-owned oil-company Rosneft and that this will "eventually lead to the lifting of foreign ownership restrictions on Gazprom shares", as the stake of the Russian government in Gazprom will rise from 38.37% to a contolling position. Even though the first wave of conglomerates (such as ITT, 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. Non-Russian investors may legally buy Gazprom shares only through American Depositary Shares, which cost more than locally traded shares. It is also one of the largest lenders in countries other than the United States, such as Japan. Gazprom provides 25% of all Russian tax revenues (averaging over US$ 4 billion annually between 1993-2003) and accounts for 8% of the nation’s gross domestic product. Interestingly, over half of GE's revenue is derived from financial services, ostensibly making it a financial company with a manufacturing arm. Until 2004 the Russian government held a 38.37% stake in the company, and had a majority on the company’s board of directors. It has a presence in over 100 countries. This was aided by shareholder activism by Hermitage CEO William Bowder and former Russian finance minister Boris Fyodorov. As GE Commercial Finance, GE Consumer Finance, GE Equipment Services, and GE Insurance it offers a range of financial services as well. Russian Presindent Vladimir Putin was actively pursuing reforms in the management of the company in the years following the scandals. It was co-founder and is 80% owner (with Vivendi Universal) of NBC Universal, the National Broadcasting Company. The real figure is around 10 percent so that's good news". Through these businesses, GE participates in a wide variety of markets including the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, lighting, industrial automation, medical imaging equipment, motors, railway locomotives, aircraft jet engines, aviation services and materials such as plastics, silicones and abrasives. The investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, a minority shareholder of Gazprom, reported on the scandals in October 2000: "Investors are valuing this company as if 99 percent of its assets have been stolen. The list of GE businesses varies over time as the result of acquisitions, disposals and reorganizations. The Gazprom auditor PwC apparently had signed off and covered these transactions. GE describes itself as composed of a number of primary business units or "businesses." Each "business" is itself a vast enterprise, any of which would, if separate, rank in the Fortune 500 by itself. Additionally, large-scale asset-stripping of Gazprom was going on by corrupt management and board members through various transactions involving the Gazprom daughter Stroitansgaz and the regional gas company Sibneftegaz. GE is an enormous multinational industrial company headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. Gazprom conducted dubious transactions with Florida-based gas-trading company Itera and a Gazprom/Itera joint-venture, Purgaz, in the late 1990s, which allegedly benefited various management members and their relatives. In 2005, General Electric bought the financial assets of the Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombardier for $1.4 billion [2]. The reasons were not clear and were explained either by an aging pipeline transport network, by a management that was becoming increasingly corrupt or by pre-existing losses that appeared because of more transparent accounting policies. In that same year, GE also acquired the credit card unit of the department store Dillard's for $1.25 billion. Furthermore, the company's records started showing a loss for the first time at this point in time. Also in 2004, GE completed the spinoff of most of its life and mortgage insurance assets into an independent company, Genworth Financial, based in Richmond, Virginia. When tax prosecutors started to seize assets of Gazprom, the company had to give in and pay. The new company was named NBC Universal. At the same time, the Russian government suddenly started demanding billions of dollars in back taxes from Gazprom. In 2004, GE bought from Vivendi Universal the television and movie assets and became the third largest media conglomerate in the world. In 1998 Chernomyrdin was fired from his position by Russia's Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin. The rest was sold to various companies, including Bertelsmann AG and Thomson. Gazprom slowly established credibility in the western capital markets with an offering of 1% of its equity to foreigners in October 1996 in the form of London Depository Receipts and a successful large bond issue of US$ 2.5 billion in 1997. In 1986, GE re-acquired RCA, primarily for the NBC television network. However, trading these shares was extremely heavily regulated and the by-laws of the company prohibited foreigners to own more than 9% of the shares. In 1970 GE sold its computer division to Honeywell. As the new government was committed to economic reform, Gazprom began to be privatized, becoming a joint-stock company in November 1992, and starting to distribute shares under the voucher method, where every Russian citizen received vouchers to purchase shares of formerly state-owned companies. It has been said that GE got into the computer manufacturing business because in the 1950's they were the largest user of computers outside of the Federal Government. After the new Russian President Boris Yeltsin appointed Chernomirdin to be his Prime Minister in December 1992, the political influence of Gazprom increased markedly. A Datanet 600 computer was designed, but never sold. After the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, Gazprom lost a large part of its assets outside of Russia - one third of its pipelines and one fourth of its compression capacity. Among them were the GE 215, GE 225, GE 235 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. Viktor Chernomyrdin was made head of the operation. GE had an extensive line of general purpose and special purpose computers. In July 1989, as part of his economic reforms, President Mikhail Gorbachev combined the ministries for oil and gas, and later carved out Gazprom as the entity responsible for gas production, distribution and sales. General Electric was one of the eight major computer companies (with IBM - the largest, Burroughs, Scientific Data Systems, Control Data Corporation, Honeywell, RCA and UNIVAC) through most of the 1960s. Gas exploration, development and distribution were centralized in a state ministry. The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) was founded by GE and AT&T in 1919 to further international radio. Due to large natural gas reserves discovered in Siberia, in the Urals and in the Volga region in the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union became a major gas producer. GE is the only one that remains today. . In 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly-formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. Gazprom supplies almost all the gas needs of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In 1892, these two major companies combined to form the General Electric Company, with its headquarters in Schenectady, New York. With sales of US$ 31 billion in 2004, it accounts for about 94% of Russian natural gas production and with reserves of 17,800 km³, it controls 25% of the world's gas reserves. As businesses expanded, it became increasingly difficult for either company to produce complete electrical installations relying solely on their own technology. Газпром, sometimes transcribed as Gasprom) is a major Russian company and the biggest natural gas extractor. Mergers with competitors and the patent rights owned by each company put them into dominant positions in the electrical industry. Gazprom (russ. Coffin, a former shoe manufacturer from Lynn, Massachusetts. It merged with various companies and was later led by Charles A. Houston formed the rival Thomson-Houston Company. J. In 1879, Elihu Thomson and E. By 1890, Edison had organized his various businesses into the Edison General Electric Company. Out of the laboratory was to come perhaps the most famous invention of all—a successful development of the incandescent electric lamp. In 1876, Thomas Alva Edison opened a new laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. . GE, which was a conglomerate long before the term was coined, is one of the very few corporations to achieve great success with this kind of organization. tax laws and accounting practices made it fashionable to assemble conglomerates. In the 1960s, peculiarities in U.S. It should not be confused with The General Electric Company plc, which was renamed Marconi plc in 1999. However, on the back of high oil prices, ExxonMobil has outranked GE for most of 2005. Going into 2005, it was the world's largest corporation in terms of market cap ([1]). The General Electric Company, or GE, NYSE: GE is a multinational technology and services company. Rank and yank. MOOSE. List of assets owned by General Electric. Lexan. Borazon. Employees (2004): 315,000. Revenue ([5]): $152.4 billion. Dray, Deane (Goldman Sachs). Parent, Nicole (Credit Suisse First Boston). Cornell, Robert (Lehman Brothers). Germanotta, Jeffrey (William Blair & Company, L.L.C.). Oct 8, 2004 - Earnings Conference Call (Q3 2004) (press release and slides) (audio). January 21, 2005 - Earnings Conference Call (Q4 2004) (press release and slides) (audio). Vice Chairman: Robert Charles Wright, 60, $11.05M. Vice Chairman: Dennis Dammerman, 58, $11.49M. Reiner. CIO: Gary M. Sherin, 45. CFO: Keith S. CEO: Jeff Immelt, 48, $7.66M. In 2004 GE was named number one company for employers and employees on the Forbes 500 Global Player list. The company's market capitalization ([3]) is almost $100 billion higher than that of Microsoft ([4]). WMC Mortgage Corp. Transport International Pool Inc. NBC Universal, Inc. MRA Systems, Inc. Instrumentarium Corporation. HPSC, Inc. Global Nuclear Fuel - Japan Co., Ltd. General Electric Mortgage Insurance Corporation. GE Transportation. GE Supply. GE Small Business Finance Corporation. GE Security. GE SeaCo SRL. GE Osmonics. GE Money. GE Insurance. GE Infrastructure. GE Healthcare. GE Global Research. GE Franchise Finance Corporation. GE Financial Assurance Holdings, Inc. GE Fanuc Automation North America, Inc. GE Equipment Services. GE Engine Services, Inc. GE Energy. GE Consumer Finance. GE Consumer & Industrial. GE Commercial Finance. GECAS. GE Capital Rail Services. GE Capital IT Solutions. GE Advanced Materials. Access Distribution. |