Immelt forgoes bonus and says jobs are being 'added back'

General Electric CEO Immelt Says No to Bonus, Again
The chairman and chief executive of General Electric, Jeff Immelt, who has railed against the “meanness and greed” of Wall Street, has refused to accept a bonus for the second year in a row. Immelt, who has reigned as head of the world’s largest company for a decade, declined to take a bonus to set an example, as GE begins to recover from the recession. But don’t feel too bad for Immelt, his total compensation package for 2009 exceeded $9 million.
According to GE’s proxy statement, Immelt did not accept an end of the year bonus, despite “delivering a strong financial performance” during a severe recession.

GE CEO Immelt forgoes bonus in 2009
Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman of U.S. conglomerate General Electric Co., declined a cash bonus in 2009 for the second year in a row, according to a regulatory filing by GE.

Immelt, 54, made $3.3 million in salary for 2009. The company revealed in a proxy filing that other executives at the firm took home more than $10 million in 2009 bonuses.
GE’s top-line revenues declined 14 percent in 2009 to $156.8 billion. Earnings from operations dropped 38 percent to $11.2 billion. GE is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

GE Has ‘Added Back’ Employees Recently, Immelt Says
General Electric Co. is hiring back workers as the U.S. economy has begun to expand and growth in emerging markets has continued unabated, Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt said.

“In the last few months we have added back employees,” Immelt said during a presentation with U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg in Washington today.
Global demand for health-care services and locomotives will drive growth at the Fairfield, Connecticut-based company, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines, medical-imaging equipment and locomotives, Immelt said. About 50 percent of that demand will be from outside the U.S., Immelt said.
President Barack Obama has said he wants to double U.S. exports in the next five years. Immelt said that goal is “as important as anything he has done.”
Brazil has been the most surprising economy in its growth in recent years, and now GE is looking to determine if Indonesia or another emerging market will be the surprise in the next few years.
GE, which gets more than half its revenue internationally, can be instrumental in helping the U.S. remain a leading exporter and had about $18 billion in export-related sales last year alone, Immelt said earlier this month in an annual letter to shareholders.
Immelt urged passage of pending U.S. free trade agreements, saying efforts in Congress to stall the deals sends the wrong message to economic partners overseas.