AdHack Blog: Olympic Brand Highlights: General Electric (GE)
don’t know about you, but I was so excited when I found out that the Robson Square Ice Rink was going to re-open. Well, we can thank General Electric for that, because of their partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games and the Province of British Columbia. Here are a few shots of the new GE Plaza’s flashy looking rink from Flickr.
GE is also a large contributor in making the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the sustainable Games, or the “Green Games,” as so many like to call them. Here you can see an interactive map of the Olympic venues, which shows how GE is making a difference by providing sustainable products – necessary items like lighting systems, power, and fire alarms at each venue.
GE goes for advertising gold during Olympics
One of the most prominent advertisers during the Winter Olympics is hawking goods that few households will ever need: hand-held ultrasound imaging equipment or nationwide computer networks for medical records.
The prime-time television ads by GE Healthcare, the medical technologies arm of General Electric Co., show vignettes with doctors, patients and hospital technology that coincide with the national debate over health care reform.
And the political timing is hardly a coincidence, according to media and industry analysts. Since he took over as chief executive of GE Healthcare in 2008, John Dineen has made no secret that he wants to influence Washington's policies _ not least because federal spending caps on imaging reimbursements hit hard at GE's diagnostic imaging group in Waukesha, Wis., which laid off several hundred workers over the past two years.
General Electric 2010 Olympics Commercial
EXTRA! From GE:Map of GE Business Solutions for the Olympic Games
Saturday, February 27, 2010
GE to sell Turkey's Garanti Bank and Canadian Wind Farm Study
GE said to plan sale of $3.3B stake in Turkey's Garanti -Reuters
General Electric Co. will sell its $3.3 billion stake in Turkey's Garanti Bankasi AS , Reuters quotes sources in GE Money as saying Thursday. GE Money is part of the U.S.-based conglomerate's GE Capital division.
GE has a 20.85% stake in Garanti, the most actively traded stock on the Istanbul exchange and Turkey's largest listed lender by market value.
"GE Money is selling its stake in Garanti Bank in line with its global reduction strategy," a GE Money source said.
GE bought a 25.5% stake from Turkish investment firm Dogus Group for $1.6 billion in 2005, then sold part of its holding back to Dogus in 2007.
New GE Study Shows Canadian Wind Farms' Profits Would Exceed Government Investment
GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric (NYSE:GE), recently released a study showing the benefits of federal Canadian wind power incentives.
The study estimated that injecting an additional C$1.5 billion into Canada’s ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program could spawn 5.2 gigawatts of new wind projects. The program would not only recoup its costs, but it would generate additional revenue for of C$287 million for Canada’s governments.
In addition to providing emissions-free electricity, the federal financial incentive program for wind energy projects would more than pay for itself through tax revenues from the projects’ income, corporations’ profits, and individual workers’ wages. An indirect tax benefit is also created when workers and corporations spend money on products and services – creating more jobs. This expansion of wind power would create 49,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, during construction and more than 1,800 permanent jobs. READ PRESS RELEASE HERE [PDF]
General Electric Co. will sell its $3.3 billion stake in Turkey's Garanti Bankasi AS , Reuters quotes sources in GE Money as saying Thursday. GE Money is part of the U.S.-based conglomerate's GE Capital division.
GE has a 20.85% stake in Garanti, the most actively traded stock on the Istanbul exchange and Turkey's largest listed lender by market value.
"GE Money is selling its stake in Garanti Bank in line with its global reduction strategy," a GE Money source said.
GE bought a 25.5% stake from Turkish investment firm Dogus Group for $1.6 billion in 2005, then sold part of its holding back to Dogus in 2007.
New GE Study Shows Canadian Wind Farms' Profits Would Exceed Government Investment
GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric (NYSE:GE), recently released a study showing the benefits of federal Canadian wind power incentives.
The study estimated that injecting an additional C$1.5 billion into Canada’s ecoENERGY for Renewable Power program could spawn 5.2 gigawatts of new wind projects. The program would not only recoup its costs, but it would generate additional revenue for of C$287 million for Canada’s governments.
In addition to providing emissions-free electricity, the federal financial incentive program for wind energy projects would more than pay for itself through tax revenues from the projects’ income, corporations’ profits, and individual workers’ wages. An indirect tax benefit is also created when workers and corporations spend money on products and services – creating more jobs. This expansion of wind power would create 49,000 jobs, directly or indirectly, during construction and more than 1,800 permanent jobs. READ PRESS RELEASE HERE [PDF]
Immelt, Paulson, Financial Crisis, Unionized Workers Job Cuts
Immelt, Paulson Talk Financial Crisis ($)
General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt interviewed Henry Paulson about the former Treasury Secretary's new book on the financial crisis at an event last week. But the two didn't address potentially controversial conversations Mr. Paulson's book says the two had at the height of the crisis.
The discussion at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan Thursday evening was framed around Mr. Paulson's new book, "On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System," and gave Mr. Paulson a chance to present his view of the crisis. Mr. Paulson defended his actions, which he believes ...
GE's unionized workers bore brunt of cuts, WSJ blog says
A report at the Wall Street Journal's web site today says unionized and service workers bore the brunt of job reductions at General Electric Co. last year. According to GE's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the overall workforce fell 5.9 percent to 304,000 at the end of Deember from 323,000 a year earlier. But the company's unionized manufacturing and service workforces fell 19 percent to 15,600 from 19,250 in December 2008, according to the MarketBeat blog at wsj.com.
General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt interviewed Henry Paulson about the former Treasury Secretary's new book on the financial crisis at an event last week. But the two didn't address potentially controversial conversations Mr. Paulson's book says the two had at the height of the crisis.
The discussion at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan Thursday evening was framed around Mr. Paulson's new book, "On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System," and gave Mr. Paulson a chance to present his view of the crisis. Mr. Paulson defended his actions, which he believes ...
GE's unionized workers bore brunt of cuts, WSJ blog says
A report at the Wall Street Journal's web site today says unionized and service workers bore the brunt of job reductions at General Electric Co. last year. According to GE's annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the overall workforce fell 5.9 percent to 304,000 at the end of Deember from 323,000 a year earlier. But the company's unionized manufacturing and service workforces fell 19 percent to 15,600 from 19,250 in December 2008, according to the MarketBeat blog at wsj.com.
Monday, February 22, 2010
2009 Layoffs, Iraq Energy, GE Executive Bonuses, Debt, Appliances at the Olympics
GE's Work Force Fell by 6 Percent in 2009
General Electric's overall work force fell by about 6 percent worldwide in 2009 as it struggled to deal with the effects of the deep recession and financial crisis, according to a company regulatory filing Friday.
GE's annual report shows the industrial and financial heavyweight reduced its overall employee head count by about 19,000 jobs to 304,000 workers. It's the second year in a row that jobs have fallen at one of the world's largest companies after several years of job growth earlier in the decade.
Excluding 16,000 jobs that came on the company's rolls last year when it took a majority stake in a Central American bank, GE's work force fell by 35,000. That was much larger than the 4,000 drop in jobs in 2008, the year that GE first began to feel the effects of the global downturn.
Worst hit was the conglomerate's GE Capital lending unit, which saw profits crumble last year as credit dried up and its losses on loans gone bad soared in areas like commercial real estate and credit cards. GE Capital shed 25 percent of its work force to finish 2009 at about 55,000 employees, part of a company plan to significantly shrink the size of the division.
GE expands energy footprint in Iraq
General Electric Co. announced it would join its partners in Iraqi Kurdistan to advance $200 million in power generation projects.
GE through its partners at Mass Global Investment Co. advanced the development of six gas-turbine power units for plants in Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah.
The projects are intended to meet the growing energy demand in the northern Kurdish provinces, the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq announced.
GE sets bonuses targets for 1,000 executives
General Electric said Friday it will pay bonuses to about 1,000 executives, including CEO Jeffrey Immelt, if the conglomerate hits business goals through 2012.
The grants will be based on the company's earnings per share, cash flow, ending investment of GE Capital, and 2012 return on total capital.
Depending on how well the company does, executives could get 75 percent to double their February 2013 base salary and separate bonuses for 2012 performance.
Immelt refused a bonus in 2008 and millions of dollars in performance awards, saying that the company's falling profits and plummeting share price prompted him to forgo the payments.
In a separate filing, GE detailed recent results for five business segments created in a Jan. 1 reorganization.
The company created a new home and business unit that includes appliances and lighting and shuffled some functions among the other units -- technology, energy, finance, and NBC Universal.
GE Capital offers to exchange $7.7 bln in debt
General Electric Co.'s financing arm, GE Capital, said Wednesday it is offering holders of about $7.7 billion in debentures a chance to exchange that debt for a bonus payment and other securities.
GE Capital is offering to pay those who accept the offer within 10 days a cash payment of 1 percent of the principal amount of the debt. That payment falls to 0.5 percent for the following 10 days.
The exchange, for trust securities with the same maturity and interest rate, is a move to boost GE Capital's so-called Tier 1 capital, a measure of health for financial institutions.
The offer applies to five lots of subordinated debentures that mature in 2067 with various interest rates.
GE shows smart appliances at Olympics
General Electric Co.’s GE Appliances & Lighting has opened The Home of the Future, featuring GE Profile Smart appliances, at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The futuristic “green” home is part of the Power Smart Village, an environmentally focused site in downtown Vancouver open to the public every day of the Winter Games.
So-called “smart” or grid-enabled appliances carry energy from utilities to homes more efficiently, and they send data back to the utilities that can help manage electric power more wisely.
In areas where prices vary daily according to demand, the appliances can respond to signals from the utilities by shifting into power-saving modes or delaying operation until demand is lower.
“I think GE Profile Smart appliances will usher in a new revolution, a revolution in which these appliances will enable us to use energy more wisely and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said James Campbell, GE Appliances and Lighting president and CEO, in a news release.
The Home of the Future was built from two recycled steel shipping containers, and it features other environmentally friendly elements such as vertical gardens on the exterior walls, high-efficiency windows, solar panels, recycled wood and energy-efficient lighting. It is expected to be open to the public through March 21.
General Electric's overall work force fell by about 6 percent worldwide in 2009 as it struggled to deal with the effects of the deep recession and financial crisis, according to a company regulatory filing Friday.
GE's annual report shows the industrial and financial heavyweight reduced its overall employee head count by about 19,000 jobs to 304,000 workers. It's the second year in a row that jobs have fallen at one of the world's largest companies after several years of job growth earlier in the decade.
Excluding 16,000 jobs that came on the company's rolls last year when it took a majority stake in a Central American bank, GE's work force fell by 35,000. That was much larger than the 4,000 drop in jobs in 2008, the year that GE first began to feel the effects of the global downturn.
Worst hit was the conglomerate's GE Capital lending unit, which saw profits crumble last year as credit dried up and its losses on loans gone bad soared in areas like commercial real estate and credit cards. GE Capital shed 25 percent of its work force to finish 2009 at about 55,000 employees, part of a company plan to significantly shrink the size of the division.
GE expands energy footprint in Iraq
General Electric Co. announced it would join its partners in Iraqi Kurdistan to advance $200 million in power generation projects.
GE through its partners at Mass Global Investment Co. advanced the development of six gas-turbine power units for plants in Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah.
The projects are intended to meet the growing energy demand in the northern Kurdish provinces, the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq announced.
GE sets bonuses targets for 1,000 executives
General Electric said Friday it will pay bonuses to about 1,000 executives, including CEO Jeffrey Immelt, if the conglomerate hits business goals through 2012.
The grants will be based on the company's earnings per share, cash flow, ending investment of GE Capital, and 2012 return on total capital.
Depending on how well the company does, executives could get 75 percent to double their February 2013 base salary and separate bonuses for 2012 performance.
Immelt refused a bonus in 2008 and millions of dollars in performance awards, saying that the company's falling profits and plummeting share price prompted him to forgo the payments.
In a separate filing, GE detailed recent results for five business segments created in a Jan. 1 reorganization.
The company created a new home and business unit that includes appliances and lighting and shuffled some functions among the other units -- technology, energy, finance, and NBC Universal.
GE Capital offers to exchange $7.7 bln in debt
General Electric Co.'s financing arm, GE Capital, said Wednesday it is offering holders of about $7.7 billion in debentures a chance to exchange that debt for a bonus payment and other securities.
GE Capital is offering to pay those who accept the offer within 10 days a cash payment of 1 percent of the principal amount of the debt. That payment falls to 0.5 percent for the following 10 days.
The exchange, for trust securities with the same maturity and interest rate, is a move to boost GE Capital's so-called Tier 1 capital, a measure of health for financial institutions.
The offer applies to five lots of subordinated debentures that mature in 2067 with various interest rates.
GE shows smart appliances at Olympics
General Electric Co.’s GE Appliances & Lighting has opened The Home of the Future, featuring GE Profile Smart appliances, at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The futuristic “green” home is part of the Power Smart Village, an environmentally focused site in downtown Vancouver open to the public every day of the Winter Games.
So-called “smart” or grid-enabled appliances carry energy from utilities to homes more efficiently, and they send data back to the utilities that can help manage electric power more wisely.
In areas where prices vary daily according to demand, the appliances can respond to signals from the utilities by shifting into power-saving modes or delaying operation until demand is lower.
“I think GE Profile Smart appliances will usher in a new revolution, a revolution in which these appliances will enable us to use energy more wisely and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said James Campbell, GE Appliances and Lighting president and CEO, in a news release.
The Home of the Future was built from two recycled steel shipping containers, and it features other environmentally friendly elements such as vertical gardens on the exterior walls, high-efficiency windows, solar panels, recycled wood and energy-efficient lighting. It is expected to be open to the public through March 21.
India, Dividend, Oklahoma Wind Farm, Electric Vehicle Charging, and China Growth
GE Official: India Should Incentivize Manufacturing
India's tax regime often favors importing finished products rather than components and raw materials, and the Indian government needs to offer new incentives to stimulate homegrown manufacturing, a senior Indian official at General Electric Co. said Monday.
V. Raja, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare South Asia, said in an interview that the import tariff on finished goods that GE brings into India typically runs at about 10%. Because of the way the tariff structure works, the duty on the import of components or raw materials necessary for local manufacturing often amount to more than 10%.
GE's board of directors authorise USD0.10 quarterly dividend
The board of directors of General Electric Company on Friday authorised a regular quarterly dividend of USD0.10 per outstanding share of its common stock.
The dividend pay out will be made on 26 April 2010 to shareowners of record at the close of business on 1 March 2010. The ex-dividend date is 25 February 2010.
GE to invest $65 mln in Oklahoma windfarm
GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of the General Electric Co. said Tuesday it will provide $65 million to fund construction of a wind farm near Woodward, Okla. The wind farm will be developed by CPV Renewable Energy Co., an affiliate of Competitive Power Venture Inc. The project is scheduled to be completed by year's end and will produce enough energy to power about 45,000 homes. In addition to the initial funding, GE will provide an option for $100 million more in partnership equity upon commencement of commercial operations. The total cost of the wind farm is projected to be $319 million, and will also be financed with a $212 million loan from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Union Bank.
GE Links With Juice for Smart Electric Vehicle Charging
General Electric plans to get into smart charging for electric vehicles in a big way this year, and it’s partnering with 2-year-old Juice Technologies to do it. This morning the companies announced a joint development agreement to create charging devices that will integrate with GE’s smart meters and Juice’s Plug Smart intelligent charging system, helping drivers to juice up their batteries when power grid demands and electricity rates are lower (see our list of 10 Electric Car Smart Charging Players to Watch). According to today’s release, “initial” chargers under the agreement will roll out in the U.S. in the second quarter of this year, “with full-scale production ramping up throughout the year.” Down the road, GE and Juice are targeting global distribution.
According to Thomas Hurkmans, co-founder and chief financial officer for Juice, whose products carry the brand Plug Smart, today’s deal is exclusive. “Every time GE builds a smart charging system for electric vehicles,” he said, “it will be with us.” GE has agreed to work with Juice and finance the development and manufacturing of EV charging systems, which will be co-branded and “sold through multiple channels,” including GE’s network.
GE’s Rice Says China Isn’t Slowing; 750 Hires Planned
General Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of jet engines and locomotives, said its businesses in China aren’t slowing down and the company will add about 750 salespeople in the country this year and more in 2011.
“Someday, the market in China is going to look like the market in the U.S., and we’ve got to be equipped with the resources to serve the market in the same way,” Vice Chairman John Rice, who oversees GE’s Technology Infrastructure segment, said today at the Barclays Capital Industrial Select Conference in Miami. “We think it’s critical to our success there.”
GE, which gets more than half of its sales outside the U.S., considers the benefits of operating in China outweighing the risks, such as intellectual property rules that aren’t ideal, Rice said. GE last year announced joint ventures to develop high-speed rail and avionics in the country that will create hundreds and preserve thousands of U.S. jobs, he said.
India's tax regime often favors importing finished products rather than components and raw materials, and the Indian government needs to offer new incentives to stimulate homegrown manufacturing, a senior Indian official at General Electric Co. said Monday.
V. Raja, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare South Asia, said in an interview that the import tariff on finished goods that GE brings into India typically runs at about 10%. Because of the way the tariff structure works, the duty on the import of components or raw materials necessary for local manufacturing often amount to more than 10%.
GE's board of directors authorise USD0.10 quarterly dividend
The board of directors of General Electric Company on Friday authorised a regular quarterly dividend of USD0.10 per outstanding share of its common stock.
The dividend pay out will be made on 26 April 2010 to shareowners of record at the close of business on 1 March 2010. The ex-dividend date is 25 February 2010.
GE to invest $65 mln in Oklahoma windfarm
GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of the General Electric Co. said Tuesday it will provide $65 million to fund construction of a wind farm near Woodward, Okla. The wind farm will be developed by CPV Renewable Energy Co., an affiliate of Competitive Power Venture Inc. The project is scheduled to be completed by year's end and will produce enough energy to power about 45,000 homes. In addition to the initial funding, GE will provide an option for $100 million more in partnership equity upon commencement of commercial operations. The total cost of the wind farm is projected to be $319 million, and will also be financed with a $212 million loan from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and Union Bank.
GE Links With Juice for Smart Electric Vehicle Charging
General Electric plans to get into smart charging for electric vehicles in a big way this year, and it’s partnering with 2-year-old Juice Technologies to do it. This morning the companies announced a joint development agreement to create charging devices that will integrate with GE’s smart meters and Juice’s Plug Smart intelligent charging system, helping drivers to juice up their batteries when power grid demands and electricity rates are lower (see our list of 10 Electric Car Smart Charging Players to Watch). According to today’s release, “initial” chargers under the agreement will roll out in the U.S. in the second quarter of this year, “with full-scale production ramping up throughout the year.” Down the road, GE and Juice are targeting global distribution.
According to Thomas Hurkmans, co-founder and chief financial officer for Juice, whose products carry the brand Plug Smart, today’s deal is exclusive. “Every time GE builds a smart charging system for electric vehicles,” he said, “it will be with us.” GE has agreed to work with Juice and finance the development and manufacturing of EV charging systems, which will be co-branded and “sold through multiple channels,” including GE’s network.
GE’s Rice Says China Isn’t Slowing; 750 Hires Planned
General Electric Co., the world’s biggest maker of jet engines and locomotives, said its businesses in China aren’t slowing down and the company will add about 750 salespeople in the country this year and more in 2011.
“Someday, the market in China is going to look like the market in the U.S., and we’ve got to be equipped with the resources to serve the market in the same way,” Vice Chairman John Rice, who oversees GE’s Technology Infrastructure segment, said today at the Barclays Capital Industrial Select Conference in Miami. “We think it’s critical to our success there.”
GE, which gets more than half of its sales outside the U.S., considers the benefits of operating in China outweighing the risks, such as intellectual property rules that aren’t ideal, Rice said. GE last year announced joint ventures to develop high-speed rail and avionics in the country that will create hundreds and preserve thousands of U.S. jobs, he said.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Olympics, GE sues Mitsubishi, Obama, and Lobbyists
Olympic Opening Draws 33 Million U.S. Viewers
The opening of the Winter Olympics drew a surge of viewers Friday, even as the Games' planners contended with unseasonably warm weather and a tragic death. An average of 32.6 million people in the U.S. watched the opening ceremony on NBC, according to early figures provided by the General Electric Co. network. That is 47% above the 22.2 million who watched the Torino, Italy, opening four years ago, and the third-most watched Winter opening since at least the 1980s.
GE sues Mitsubishi over turbine patents
Washington: General Electric, the biggest maker of wind turbines in the United States, filed a new patent- infringement lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and plans to appeal an earlier case it lost. The new complaint, filed on Thursday in federal court in Dallas, claims Mitsubishi Heavy infringes two patents.
Why is Obama Taking Recovery Advice From GE’s CEO?
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch epitomized the ultimate corporate globalization mentality when he declared in 1998: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge." The idea was to abandon existing workers as rapidly as possible in search of the lowest possible wage and maximum control. GE's prominence always guarantees it the ear of the president. Current CEO Jeffrey Immelt is a member of President Obama's "kitchen cabinet," the advisory board set up to "provide an independent voice on economic issues" and offer "independent advice to the President as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery."
Lobbyists didn’t suffer a slowdown in 2009
General Electric, based in Fairfield, Conn., was the second biggest-spending corporation with $25.5 million, up from $19.4 million in 2008. GE’s NBC Universal subsidiary is seeking approval to merge with Philadelphia-based Comcast.
The opening of the Winter Olympics drew a surge of viewers Friday, even as the Games' planners contended with unseasonably warm weather and a tragic death. An average of 32.6 million people in the U.S. watched the opening ceremony on NBC, according to early figures provided by the General Electric Co. network. That is 47% above the 22.2 million who watched the Torino, Italy, opening four years ago, and the third-most watched Winter opening since at least the 1980s.
GE sues Mitsubishi over turbine patents
Washington: General Electric, the biggest maker of wind turbines in the United States, filed a new patent- infringement lawsuit against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and plans to appeal an earlier case it lost. The new complaint, filed on Thursday in federal court in Dallas, claims Mitsubishi Heavy infringes two patents.
Why is Obama Taking Recovery Advice From GE’s CEO?
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch epitomized the ultimate corporate globalization mentality when he declared in 1998: "Ideally, you'd have every plant you own on a barge." The idea was to abandon existing workers as rapidly as possible in search of the lowest possible wage and maximum control. GE's prominence always guarantees it the ear of the president. Current CEO Jeffrey Immelt is a member of President Obama's "kitchen cabinet," the advisory board set up to "provide an independent voice on economic issues" and offer "independent advice to the President as he formulates and implements his plans for economic recovery."
Lobbyists didn’t suffer a slowdown in 2009
General Electric, based in Fairfield, Conn., was the second biggest-spending corporation with $25.5 million, up from $19.4 million in 2008. GE’s NBC Universal subsidiary is seeking approval to merge with Philadelphia-based Comcast.
