General Electric

By: EconomyWatch   Date: 17 July 2010

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General Electric is a multinational American company, which deals in technology and similar services and products. It is ranked #2 in 2008 Forbes Global 2000 list, which is an indicator of where General Electric stands in present day business scenario.
As per market capitalization statistics for September 30, 2008, General Electric is third largest company. It has been placed second in BrandZ ranking system. General Electric is a publicly held company.

Brief history
General Electric was established in 1878 by Thomas Alva Edison at Menlo Park in New Jersey. Its original name was Edison General Electric Company. General Electric was formed in in 1892 when at behest of financier J.P. Morgan there was a merger between Edison General Electric Company and its rival Thomson-Houston Electric Company.

Products and services
General Electric offers its products and services in several sections like appliances, health care, aviation, lighting, consumer electronics, media and entertainment, electrical distribution, oil and gas, energy, rail, finance – business, security, finance – consumer and water.

Financials
In 2007, sales of General Electric amounted to around $172.74 billion and it earned profits worth nearly $22.21 billion. Its market value stood at about $330.93 billion and assets held by General Electric were worth almost $795.34 billion.

Awards and recognition
In September 2008, Business Week identified General Electric as one of best places to start a career. Around same time, Barron's conducted a survey among money managers in United States of America regarding respectability of US companies. General Electric was placed in its list of 100 most respected companies in USA.

Current financial crisis
General Electric announced that for second quarter, 2008, there had been a 6 percent reduction in earnings. This was an unexpected loss. Financial division along with household appliances and health care divisions of General Electric were highly affected by this financial crunch.

General Electric also sold $3 billion in preferred shares to Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owned by Warren Buffett and $12 billion in common stocks to its investors. This was done in order to raise capital in wake of recent global crisis. On October 24, 2008 GE Money announced that 335 staff members would be retrenched to help cope with market pressures.



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