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.

Recent News: GE Healthcare, GE Energy, NBC, Lawsuit, Layoffs, GE Aviation, and Stock Performance

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We’ve blogged several times about the efforts of some companies to establish two-way dialogs with their customers through initiatives such as online forums — and their mixed results. Continental Airlines, for instance, has won kudos from its customers for its policy of employing a dedicated person to monitor online chat forums and even to visit some customers in person at feedback events around the country. Dell, on the other hand, has been less successful with its Ideastorm site and its own interactions with sites such as the Consumerist.com.
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