Recent News: Olympics, China, Locomotives, Dividend, Virgin Blue Airlines, Pickens Plan TV ad

The Rewards of Olympic Hospitality
For General Electric Co., being a big Olympic sponsor isn't only about generating revenue and buffing its public image. The Fairfield, Conn., company also sees Beijing as an exotic venue for wining and dining top-performing employees and important clients. General Electric is hosting 2,000 customers and other guests from around the world in Beijing during the Games, inviting them to meals and offering tickets to Olympic events and sightseeing trips. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt and other senior executives are among those playing host, according to GE spokeswoman Deirdre Latour.

China to get first of 300 GE locomotives by end-Aug
General Electric Co said on Thursday it would deliver the first of 300 advanced locomotives to China by the end of August, with the remainder arriving by mid 2010...

GE Board Authorizes Regular Quarterly Dividend 31c
The Board of Directors of General Electric Company authorized a regular quarterly dividend of $0.31 per outstanding share of the Company's common stock. The dividend is payable October 27, 2008 to shareowners of record at the close of business on September 22, 2008. The ex-dividend date is September 18, 2008...

GE's Making All the Right Moves
Earlier this week, I wrote that with market conditions being what they are, Fools might revisit the largest U.S. company, ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM). It therefore may seem like a systematic traipse down Market Cap Lane when I suggest that No. 2 General Electric (NYSE: GE) also deserves more than a passing gander. The past year hasn't been an especially happy one for the General. With Mr. Market anything but stable, its shares have declined by about a quarter to around $29. And if you take the time to skim the company's second-quarter earnings release...

Will Olympic Coverage Score General Electric a Gold?
Every 4 years, the greatest athletes in the world gather to put on an athletic spectacle worthy of the gods residing on Mt. Olympus, giving us the name of this athletic extravaganza: The Olympics. Many things have changed from the original Olympic Games; women are allowed to watch and compete, there are Summer and Winter Games, the competitors wear clothes, and you can watch the competition on television and via the Internet ... thanks to General Electric. Yes, General Electric – remember folks, that this conglomerate is the parent company of NBC....

GE Locates China Headquarters In Shanghai
General Electric announced that its China Technology Park in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park has been formally completed and it will become GE's headquarters in China...

GE's Olympic Score
Well, the Olympics are over, and Michael Phelps may be going home with eight gold medals, but he might as well start receiving GE dividends. The extraordinary swimmer helped to fuel Olympic mania, sending viewership of the peacock network, which is owned by conglomerate General Electric, soaring. In the end, the Beijing Olympics were the most-watched event in TV history, according to Nielsen Media Research. Olympics watching surpassed executives’ “wildest expectations” and drew in more viewers than the games in either Sydney or Athens...

Virgin Blue inks engine maintenance deal with GE
Virgin Blue inked a maintenance and overhaul agreement with GE for the Australian carrier's CFM International CFM56-7B engines...

NBC approves Pickens' "Iran" ad after complaint
NBC Universal approved an advertisement by T. Boone Pickens entitled "Iran" which questions U.S. dependence on foreign oil, after the oil tycoon complained that the network had rejected it...