CEO Jeff Immelt says his company trains the best business leaders in the world. Yet they haven't saved him from a hellish decade that cut GE's value in half.
A couple of Fridays each month, Jeffrey R. Immelt hosts a sleepover. The chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) invites one of the 185 officers of his company—and only one—to his home in New Canaan, Conn., for a leisurely meal. After a few drinks, some laughs, a plate of pasta, and a wide-ranging discussion of what's going on in the world, the two executives part. Immelt, 54, stays home while his guest heads to lodging at GE headquarters in nearby Fairfield. When they reconvene the next morning, things get personal. "We spend Saturday morning just talking about their careers," says Immelt. "Who they are, how they fit, how I see their strengths and weaknesses—stuff like that." One recent guest, Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power & Water, calls it "a really nice discussion, a chance to get to know each other better."
What does it say about Immelt that after almost a decade in the top job he's looking for ways to bond with his team? "The personal connection is something I may have taken for granted before that I don't want to ever take for granted again," he says. "Sometimes there's a tendency to say, 'Well, this is an officer of the company. They've been here 20 years. They can figure it out. Do they really need me to draw them a diagram?' But you need to make the time."
The sleepovers are part of a major rethink by Immelt, a personal reevaluation of how GE equips its people to lead. The reappraisal was triggered by the global financial crisis, which shook the $157 billion-a-year conglomerate, almost destroyed its financial services unit, and sent its share price from $29 in the days before Lehman Brothers crashed to below $6. (It has since recovered to around $19, leaving GE's market cap, at roughly $200 billion, about half what it once was.) That led Immelt to become what he describes as "self-reflective on steroids" and to ask a hard question: "Was there one of my top 150 people who was thinking, 'You know, Jeff, commercial real estate shouldn't be so goddamn big,' but didn't have a way to say [it]?"
Immelt intends to spend this year exploring new ideas, which he describes as "wallowing in it," to decide how GE should shape and measure its leaders. He has solicited management suggestions from a broad range of organizations—from Google (GOOG) to China's Communist Party—and sent 30 of his top people to more than 100 companies worldwide. He's holding monthly dinners with 10 executives and an external "thought leader" to debate leadership. He launched a pilot program to bring in personal coaches for high-potential talent, a practice that GE once reserved mainly for those in need of remedial work. To increase exposure to the world beyond GE, Immelt is even reconsidering the age-old rule that employees can't sit on corporate boards. "I think about it all the time," he says. "You have to be willing to change when it makes sense."
READ THE FULL STORY HERE.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Recovery, Earnings, and Stock Performance
GE Investors Look Past Finance Rut for Stabilization
General Electric Co. investors say profit declines may be easing, allowing them to look beyond the slump for signs that Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is stabilizing the finance unit and driving industrial orders. GE, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, power-plant turbines and medical-imaging equipment, may say tomorrow that profit from continuing operations fell to 16 cents a share from 26 cents a year earlier, analysts estimate. Earnings may improve enough later in the year that GE can raise its dividend in 2011, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said in March. The prospect has lifted GE to the highest since the midst of the U.S. financial crisis 18 months ago. “They may actually surprise on the upside with real revenue growth here, and the comparisons are kind of easy,” said Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati who helps handle $12.8 billion, including more than 2.1 million GE shares as of March 31. “Any little surprises on, say like energy systems, that’s the kind of thing that people are going to latch onto and say, ‘Hey, the big kids are back in town.’” GE may be poised to show investors steadily improving profit margins, cash generation and order growth amid a buffer of free cash that the company has predicted to be about $25 billion at the end of 2010, said Steven Winoker, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.GE may see one more quarter of declining earnings before profits start to climb against year-earlier comparisons in the second half, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimate.
Shares set to trim gains; eyes on GE
European shares were seen falling on Friday, trimming lofty gains made over the past two sessions, as investors awaited quarterly results from global conglomerate General Electric (GE.N) and fresh insight on the outlook for company profits.
Income Falls, but G.E. Tops Forecasts
General Electric, reassured by signs that a global recovery was gaining momentum, said on Friday that its profit for the year might exceed expectations. General Electric's aviation plant in Durham, N.C. G.E.'s chief , Jeffrey R. Immelt, said he saw “encouraging economic signs.” “We feel pretty good about where we’re positioned as the recovery continues,” the chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, told investors in a conference call about first-quarter results. He said G.E. might undertake additional cost-cutting as it refocused the business on its industrial components, which include production of items like wind turbines and jet engines. G.E., based in Fairfield, Conn., said it was encouraged by indications that the tide of loan losses at its financial unit, GE Capital, was beginning to reverse. Credit card delinquencies have fallen, the company said, and losses on mortgages in Britain are easing.
General Electric Co. investors say profit declines may be easing, allowing them to look beyond the slump for signs that Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt is stabilizing the finance unit and driving industrial orders. GE, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, power-plant turbines and medical-imaging equipment, may say tomorrow that profit from continuing operations fell to 16 cents a share from 26 cents a year earlier, analysts estimate. Earnings may improve enough later in the year that GE can raise its dividend in 2011, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company said in March. The prospect has lifted GE to the highest since the midst of the U.S. financial crisis 18 months ago. “They may actually surprise on the upside with real revenue growth here, and the comparisons are kind of easy,” said Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati who helps handle $12.8 billion, including more than 2.1 million GE shares as of March 31. “Any little surprises on, say like energy systems, that’s the kind of thing that people are going to latch onto and say, ‘Hey, the big kids are back in town.’” GE may be poised to show investors steadily improving profit margins, cash generation and order growth amid a buffer of free cash that the company has predicted to be about $25 billion at the end of 2010, said Steven Winoker, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.GE may see one more quarter of declining earnings before profits start to climb against year-earlier comparisons in the second half, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg estimate.
Shares set to trim gains; eyes on GE
European shares were seen falling on Friday, trimming lofty gains made over the past two sessions, as investors awaited quarterly results from global conglomerate General Electric (GE.N) and fresh insight on the outlook for company profits.
Income Falls, but G.E. Tops Forecasts
General Electric, reassured by signs that a global recovery was gaining momentum, said on Friday that its profit for the year might exceed expectations. General Electric's aviation plant in Durham, N.C. G.E.'s chief , Jeffrey R. Immelt, said he saw “encouraging economic signs.” “We feel pretty good about where we’re positioned as the recovery continues,” the chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, told investors in a conference call about first-quarter results. He said G.E. might undertake additional cost-cutting as it refocused the business on its industrial components, which include production of items like wind turbines and jet engines. G.E., based in Fairfield, Conn., said it was encouraged by indications that the tide of loan losses at its financial unit, GE Capital, was beginning to reverse. Credit card delinquencies have fallen, the company said, and losses on mortgages in Britain are easing.
GE Options Headlines from BusinessWeek & Forbes
GE Options Traders Boost Bullish Bets Before Earnings
Trading of bullish General Electric Co. options rose to more than triple the four-week average as investors boosted bets that the shares will keep rising from a 17-month high tomorrow after the company reports earnings. More than 310,000 calls giving the right to buy the stock changed hands at 4 p.m. New York time as the shares climbed a fourth day, adding 0.8 percent to $19.50. The most-active contracts were April $20 calls, which rose 50 percent to 15 cents for the fourth-biggest gain among GE options. Almost two calls changed hands today for each put option to sell the stock. This month’s options expire at tomorrow’s close.
Bulls Rush Into Ford, GE And Bank Of America
General Electric: Bullish players flooded the options arena on diverse conglomerate, General Electric Company, Thursday amid a more than 1.5% rally in the price of its shares to a new 52-week high of $19.69. Investors are positioning for continued upward momentum in the price of the underlying stock by coveting call options in the April and May contracts. Bullish traders purchased more than 42,600 calls at the April $20 strike for an average premium of $0.16 per contract. GE's share price must surpass the average breakeven point on the calls at $20.16 ahead of expiration tomorrow in order for call-buyers to accumulate profits on the call contracts. Buying interest spread to the May $20 strike where more than 12,200 calls were picked up for an average premium of $0.47 a-pop. These optimistic individuals make money as long as General Electric's shares rally approximately 4% from the new 52-week high of $19.69 to exceed the average breakeven price of $20.47 by May expiration. The overall reading of options implied volatility on GE is up 11.5% to 29.58% just after noon.
Trading of bullish General Electric Co. options rose to more than triple the four-week average as investors boosted bets that the shares will keep rising from a 17-month high tomorrow after the company reports earnings. More than 310,000 calls giving the right to buy the stock changed hands at 4 p.m. New York time as the shares climbed a fourth day, adding 0.8 percent to $19.50. The most-active contracts were April $20 calls, which rose 50 percent to 15 cents for the fourth-biggest gain among GE options. Almost two calls changed hands today for each put option to sell the stock. This month’s options expire at tomorrow’s close.
Bulls Rush Into Ford, GE And Bank Of America
General Electric: Bullish players flooded the options arena on diverse conglomerate, General Electric Company, Thursday amid a more than 1.5% rally in the price of its shares to a new 52-week high of $19.69. Investors are positioning for continued upward momentum in the price of the underlying stock by coveting call options in the April and May contracts. Bullish traders purchased more than 42,600 calls at the April $20 strike for an average premium of $0.16 per contract. GE's share price must surpass the average breakeven point on the calls at $20.16 ahead of expiration tomorrow in order for call-buyers to accumulate profits on the call contracts. Buying interest spread to the May $20 strike where more than 12,200 calls were picked up for an average premium of $0.47 a-pop. These optimistic individuals make money as long as General Electric's shares rally approximately 4% from the new 52-week high of $19.69 to exceed the average breakeven price of $20.47 by May expiration. The overall reading of options implied volatility on GE is up 11.5% to 29.58% just after noon.
LED Revenue Growth, NBC Earnings, and GE's recovery
GE sees growth in LED revenue
“LEDs are probably the largest growth area” for the lighting industry, Michael Petras, chief executive officer of GE's lighting business, said in an interview in Frankfurt Monday. LEDs make up “less than 10 percent” of GE Lighting's global sales, and that proportion probably will rise to one-third by 2015, with the overall market doubling “in the next couple of years,” he said.
GE Lighting's sales will be “flat or slightly positive” this year, Petras said. They fell to $2.5 billion in 2009 from $2.8 billion in 2008, according to presentations on GE's Web site. GE is the world's third- largest lighting company, after Royal Philips Electronics and Siemens's Osram. Its Appliances & Lighting division is headquartered in Louisville.
NBC Universal earnings drag down parent General Electric's results
NBC Universal is relieved that its winter financial wipeout is finally over.
Parent company General Electric Co. on Friday released its first-quarter results, which included, as expected, substantial losses generated by NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Although GE posted a 32% drop in earnings, the company nonetheless beat analysts' expectations.
GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said there were signs the economy was improving, along with the industrial giant's profit margins -- except for a couple of problem divisions.
"NBC, because of the Olympics, was a drag on margins overall," Immelt said.
NBC Universal's operating profit of $199 million was down 49% compared with the first quarter of 2009. Revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter was up 23% compared with the year-earlier period, but it was about flat when ad sales for the Olympics were excluded from the results.
GE executives warned investors several months ago that NBC would lose as much as $250 million on its coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Games -- but it did not turn out as bad as first feared. NBC ended up losing $223 million on the Olympics, GE said, thanks to better-than-anticipated advertising.
General Electric Rehab On Track
General Electric's road to recovery may be rocky, but it's on the road nonetheless as it beat Wall Street's views on first quarter profit.
Among the most important morsels withing GE's report was the update on the progress of GE's financial arm GE Capital Services. The good news is GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said losses appear to have peaked, but that's not to say the problems will be over anytime soon. GE Capital was able to report earnings of $607 million in the first quarter, but commercial real estate continues to be "challenging". Thankfully, losses, delinquencies and non-earning assets have also declined during the first quarter.
“LEDs are probably the largest growth area” for the lighting industry, Michael Petras, chief executive officer of GE's lighting business, said in an interview in Frankfurt Monday. LEDs make up “less than 10 percent” of GE Lighting's global sales, and that proportion probably will rise to one-third by 2015, with the overall market doubling “in the next couple of years,” he said.
GE Lighting's sales will be “flat or slightly positive” this year, Petras said. They fell to $2.5 billion in 2009 from $2.8 billion in 2008, according to presentations on GE's Web site. GE is the world's third- largest lighting company, after Royal Philips Electronics and Siemens's Osram. Its Appliances & Lighting division is headquartered in Louisville.
NBC Universal earnings drag down parent General Electric's results
NBC Universal is relieved that its winter financial wipeout is finally over.
Parent company General Electric Co. on Friday released its first-quarter results, which included, as expected, substantial losses generated by NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Although GE posted a 32% drop in earnings, the company nonetheless beat analysts' expectations.
GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt said there were signs the economy was improving, along with the industrial giant's profit margins -- except for a couple of problem divisions.
"NBC, because of the Olympics, was a drag on margins overall," Immelt said.
NBC Universal's operating profit of $199 million was down 49% compared with the first quarter of 2009. Revenue of $4.32 billion for the quarter was up 23% compared with the year-earlier period, but it was about flat when ad sales for the Olympics were excluded from the results.
GE executives warned investors several months ago that NBC would lose as much as $250 million on its coverage of the Vancouver Olympic Games -- but it did not turn out as bad as first feared. NBC ended up losing $223 million on the Olympics, GE said, thanks to better-than-anticipated advertising.
General Electric Rehab On Track
General Electric's road to recovery may be rocky, but it's on the road nonetheless as it beat Wall Street's views on first quarter profit.
Among the most important morsels withing GE's report was the update on the progress of GE's financial arm GE Capital Services. The good news is GE Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said losses appear to have peaked, but that's not to say the problems will be over anytime soon. GE Capital was able to report earnings of $607 million in the first quarter, but commercial real estate continues to be "challenging". Thankfully, losses, delinquencies and non-earning assets have also declined during the first quarter.
Monday, April 12, 2010
General Electric, Diplomat to China
General Electric (NYSE:GE) in "Country to Company" Relationship to China
Last November General Electric (NYSE:GE) and China announced they had entered into what they called a "Country to Company" agreement, which implied and I think, outright announced, that China considered General Electric to be on equal footing to another country; as a matter of fact, calling it a "Country to Company" agreement by China did put General Electric on par with them being a country.
This is a fascinating development, but not really a surprising one when you think of it. General Electric, at the time of this writing, has a market cap of a little under $200 billion. There are a number of countries in the world that struggle to come close to that figure, so General Electric, and other companies, indeed are larger and more powerful as a business partner than entire countries.
Some have become bothered by this reality, but it's not that big of a deal to me, and General Electric and other companies have every right to enter into agreements with business partners from other countries.
One factor which has troubled some people is the large companies like General Electric, with the deals they've made with China and other countries, having a place on the president's Business Advisory Board, while small business representatives like the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aren't invited to the party.
This of course does leave out an important voice of American enterprise out of the equation and limits the view of what needs to be done, especially with the creation of American jobs.
Last November General Electric (NYSE:GE) and China announced they had entered into what they called a "Country to Company" agreement, which implied and I think, outright announced, that China considered General Electric to be on equal footing to another country; as a matter of fact, calling it a "Country to Company" agreement by China did put General Electric on par with them being a country.
This is a fascinating development, but not really a surprising one when you think of it. General Electric, at the time of this writing, has a market cap of a little under $200 billion. There are a number of countries in the world that struggle to come close to that figure, so General Electric, and other companies, indeed are larger and more powerful as a business partner than entire countries.
Some have become bothered by this reality, but it's not that big of a deal to me, and General Electric and other companies have every right to enter into agreements with business partners from other countries.
One factor which has troubled some people is the large companies like General Electric, with the deals they've made with China and other countries, having a place on the president's Business Advisory Board, while small business representatives like the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce aren't invited to the party.
This of course does leave out an important voice of American enterprise out of the equation and limits the view of what needs to be done, especially with the creation of American jobs.
General Electric Recent Stock Performance, Commentary, and Earnings Preview
Chasing Value: When Will General Electric Double?
There are plenty of disgruntled shareholders out there who are unhappy with their General Electric (GE) stock, which has compressed in value over the last ten years from a high near $60 in August 2000 to a low around $8.50 in March 2009. GE was one my 2009 stock picks that disappointed by underperforming the group and the over all market. If you are among the patient, stubborn and hoping shareholders, this year provided more than a glimmer of hope.
Is GE a Buy?
General Electric's (NYSE: GE) stock has had a great run recently -- it's up 24% year to date, and up 187% from its market's crisis low on March 5 last year. Is it still worth buying?
A world-class company selling at average multiples?
The data I looked at (part of which is included in the above table) show that GE is squarely in the middle of its peer group along a wide array of valuation metrics: price-to-earnings based on estimated earnings per share for 2010, 2011, and 2012, price-to-tangible book value and dividend yield. A world-class company priced at average valuations? Surely that's a "buy" signal. Hold on: The companies in GE's peer group are hardly run-of-the-mill: Many of them are also superlative businesses (or sets of businesses, since we're talking about conglomerates).
GE Bull Still Sees Soft First Quarter
Morgan Stanley likes where General Electric(GE) is going but, at least as the far as the first quarter is concerned, it thinks the company is not quite there yet. The outlook for GE is improving as order rates continue to strengthen and GECS [GE Capital] concerns appear increasingly manageable," Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Monday. "1Q10 will likely be another soft quarter however, as loss from Olympics, softness in late cycle businesses and increasing GECS provisioning keep pressure on earnings."
Earnings Preview : General Electric (NYSE : GE), Q1, 2010
General Electric (NYSE: GE) will release the company's first quarter of 2010 earnings on Friday, April 16. The release will be immediately followed by a conference call at 8:30 AM to discuss the earnings report. Conference call participants will be Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO; Keith Sherin, Vice Chairman and CFO; and Trevor Schauenberg, VP Investor Communications. General Electric is one of the largest and most diversified industrial corporations in the world. GE is engaged in developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products for the generation, transmission, distribution, control and utilization of electricity. Some of GE''s products include major appliances; lighting products; industrial automation products; medical diagnostic imaging equipment; motors; electrical distribution and control equipment; locomotives; power generation and delivery products.
There are plenty of disgruntled shareholders out there who are unhappy with their General Electric (GE) stock, which has compressed in value over the last ten years from a high near $60 in August 2000 to a low around $8.50 in March 2009. GE was one my 2009 stock picks that disappointed by underperforming the group and the over all market. If you are among the patient, stubborn and hoping shareholders, this year provided more than a glimmer of hope.
Is GE a Buy?
General Electric's (NYSE: GE) stock has had a great run recently -- it's up 24% year to date, and up 187% from its market's crisis low on March 5 last year. Is it still worth buying?
A world-class company selling at average multiples?
The data I looked at (part of which is included in the above table) show that GE is squarely in the middle of its peer group along a wide array of valuation metrics: price-to-earnings based on estimated earnings per share for 2010, 2011, and 2012, price-to-tangible book value and dividend yield. A world-class company priced at average valuations? Surely that's a "buy" signal. Hold on: The companies in GE's peer group are hardly run-of-the-mill: Many of them are also superlative businesses (or sets of businesses, since we're talking about conglomerates).
GE Bull Still Sees Soft First Quarter
Morgan Stanley likes where General Electric(GE) is going but, at least as the far as the first quarter is concerned, it thinks the company is not quite there yet. The outlook for GE is improving as order rates continue to strengthen and GECS [GE Capital] concerns appear increasingly manageable," Morgan Stanley said in a research note on Monday. "1Q10 will likely be another soft quarter however, as loss from Olympics, softness in late cycle businesses and increasing GECS provisioning keep pressure on earnings."
Earnings Preview : General Electric (NYSE : GE), Q1, 2010
General Electric (NYSE: GE) will release the company's first quarter of 2010 earnings on Friday, April 16. The release will be immediately followed by a conference call at 8:30 AM to discuss the earnings report. Conference call participants will be Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO; Keith Sherin, Vice Chairman and CFO; and Trevor Schauenberg, VP Investor Communications. General Electric is one of the largest and most diversified industrial corporations in the world. GE is engaged in developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products for the generation, transmission, distribution, control and utilization of electricity. Some of GE''s products include major appliances; lighting products; industrial automation products; medical diagnostic imaging equipment; motors; electrical distribution and control equipment; locomotives; power generation and delivery products.
Jeffrey Immelt to Give Commencement Address at Hamilton College
General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to Give Commencement Address
Jeffrey Immelt P'10, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Company (GE), will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2010 on Sunday, May 23. Immelt has had a tumultuous, but successful stint at GE thus far. His first years were difficult – he took command four days before the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, and he led GE through the recession at the turn of the century and the Enron collapse (when the public became increasingly skeptical of CEOs of large corporations). Immelt has now been CEO at GE for over eight years, and financial magazine Barron's has named him one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times. He also serves on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Jeffrey Immelt P'10, chairman and chief executive officer of General Electric Company (GE), will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2010 on Sunday, May 23. Immelt has had a tumultuous, but successful stint at GE thus far. His first years were difficult – he took command four days before the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001, and he led GE through the recession at the turn of the century and the Enron collapse (when the public became increasingly skeptical of CEOs of large corporations). Immelt has now been CEO at GE for over eight years, and financial magazine Barron's has named him one of the "World's Best CEOs" three times. He also serves on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
LED Lightbulbs and London Olympics
GE's New $50 LED Lightbulb Pricey, but Future-Proofed?
A new lightbulb might not sound like the most exciting piece of technology in the world. Nevertheless, GE has unleashed a little monster of an LED bulb that does its best to imitate the common features (including brightness and lighting angles) of a conventional incandescent bulb. And since it's based on light-emitting diodes, rather than a heated-up filament, it will use one-fourth of the typical power draw of an incandescent bulb to output its 450 lumens—the brightness equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb.
The kicker? Picking up the GE Energy Smart LED Bulb will set you back anywhere from $40 to $50. That's a bit pricier than your standard $1-$2 incandescent bulb. However, GE expects its LED bulb to last 17 years—or a 25,000-hour life—if run four hours a day, every day. That's 25 times the lifespan of a typical incandescent bulb and three times the availability of an average 8,000-hour CFL bulb. The GE Energy Smart LED Bulb fits normal incandescent sockets, which is a nice touch for those worried about having to replace infrastructure just to harness the power of environmentally friendly lighting.
General Electric strengthens team in London for 2012 Olympics
General Electric, a TOP Olympic sponsor, has announced that it has bolstered its UK corporate communications efforts ahead of London hosting the 2012 Olympics with two new appointments.
Mark Maguire, 36, has been appointed in the newly created role of communications director for GE UK.
He will report to Mark Elborne, the President and chief executive of GE Northern Europe with immediate effect.
Maguire will be responsible for the company’s corporate image and brand identity amongst external stakeholders - in particular through the media.
In addition to media relations he will be responsible for all internal corporate communications, as well as optimising sponsorship and corporate social responsibility opportunities for GE in the UK - in particular GE’s London 2012 Olympics sponsorship.
A new lightbulb might not sound like the most exciting piece of technology in the world. Nevertheless, GE has unleashed a little monster of an LED bulb that does its best to imitate the common features (including brightness and lighting angles) of a conventional incandescent bulb. And since it's based on light-emitting diodes, rather than a heated-up filament, it will use one-fourth of the typical power draw of an incandescent bulb to output its 450 lumens—the brightness equivalent of a 40-watt incandescent bulb.
The kicker? Picking up the GE Energy Smart LED Bulb will set you back anywhere from $40 to $50. That's a bit pricier than your standard $1-$2 incandescent bulb. However, GE expects its LED bulb to last 17 years—or a 25,000-hour life—if run four hours a day, every day. That's 25 times the lifespan of a typical incandescent bulb and three times the availability of an average 8,000-hour CFL bulb. The GE Energy Smart LED Bulb fits normal incandescent sockets, which is a nice touch for those worried about having to replace infrastructure just to harness the power of environmentally friendly lighting.
General Electric strengthens team in London for 2012 Olympics
General Electric, a TOP Olympic sponsor, has announced that it has bolstered its UK corporate communications efforts ahead of London hosting the 2012 Olympics with two new appointments.
Mark Maguire, 36, has been appointed in the newly created role of communications director for GE UK.
He will report to Mark Elborne, the President and chief executive of GE Northern Europe with immediate effect.
Maguire will be responsible for the company’s corporate image and brand identity amongst external stakeholders - in particular through the media.
In addition to media relations he will be responsible for all internal corporate communications, as well as optimising sponsorship and corporate social responsibility opportunities for GE in the UK - in particular GE’s London 2012 Olympics sponsorship.
GE's Tax Payments = $0
You Pay More Tax Than General Electric
Chances are you've probably written your tax check by now, or you've been writing it throughout the year, but maybe you're wondering what your bosses are paying?
If you're General Electric, for example, you haven't paid taxes since 2008.
I caught this little nugget today, and what seems to be driving it is some phenomenal corporate skullduggery that most of us probably wish we could do with our own tax records--GE's got this subsidiary, GE Capital, which is a financial services outfit. And GE Capital has been losing just phenomenal amounts of money. While GE itself has made massive piles of money--just over ten billion in 2009--GE Capital lost six and a half billion that same year.
Since business losses are deductible, along with many other common operational expenses--and moreover, GE had a lot of profitable operations in other countries that they don't need to pay United States taxes on right away--this allowed GE's total tax obligation to be NEGATIVE one billion dollars.
Chances are you've probably written your tax check by now, or you've been writing it throughout the year, but maybe you're wondering what your bosses are paying?
If you're General Electric, for example, you haven't paid taxes since 2008.
I caught this little nugget today, and what seems to be driving it is some phenomenal corporate skullduggery that most of us probably wish we could do with our own tax records--GE's got this subsidiary, GE Capital, which is a financial services outfit. And GE Capital has been losing just phenomenal amounts of money. While GE itself has made massive piles of money--just over ten billion in 2009--GE Capital lost six and a half billion that same year.
Since business losses are deductible, along with many other common operational expenses--and moreover, GE had a lot of profitable operations in other countries that they don't need to pay United States taxes on right away--this allowed GE's total tax obligation to be NEGATIVE one billion dollars.
