General Electric breaks up
An iconic conglomerate calls time on itself
PERHAPS THE most remarkable characteristic of General Electric (GE) over its 129-year history has been how thoroughly it reflected the dominant characteristics of big American business. Most of its history was a chronicle of boisterous expansion, then globalisation—followed by painful restructuring away from the now-unloved conglomerate model. On November 9th Lawrence Culp, its chief executive, announced that GE would split its remaining operations into three public companies.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Not so general”
Business November 13th 2021
- How Hollywood’s biggest stars are losing their clout
- Science and technology lifts the gloom for property investors
- Chief executives are weirder than ever
- The non-zero costs of zero-covid
- General Electric breaks up
- Herbert Diess’s job is once again on the line
- Companies want to build a virtual realm to copy the real world
- Uber, DoorDash and similar firms can’t defy the laws of capitalism after all
From the November 13th 2021 edition
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