PBS Nightly Business Report: One on One with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt

One on One with GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt

SUSIE GHARIB: Many executives find it hard to be upbeat these days with all the concerns about the wobbly U.S. economy. But the chairman and CEO of General Electric Jeffrey Immelt is pretty cheery. He expects GE revenues to grow as much as 15 percent this year and earnings to increase by 10 percent. A short while ago I sat down with Immelt and he told me why he won't change his forecast even if the U.S. economy slips into recession.

JEFFREY IMMELT, CEO, GENERAL ELECTRIC: The company today is much more globally diverse and the businesses we're in have more tailwind, you know the, the big infrastructure businesses, health care, even commercial finance, are more insulated against just the U.S. consumer. What I would say, Susie, for your viewers, is it's as confusing at times as I can remember in my 25 years with the company. Clearly there are places that are really slow. But even when I look at some of the leading indicators I look at that, you know, that maybe forecast a recession -- like even NBC -- they're still pretty robust.

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