General Electric to Split into 3 Public Companies

To simplify business and pare debt General Electric will split into 3 public companies.

General Electric, the storied American manufacturer that struggled under its own weight after growing to become a sprawling conglomerate, will divide itself into three public companies focused on aviation, healthcare and energy.

It is the culmination of an arduous, yearslong reshaping of a symbol of American manufacturing might that could signal the end of conglomerates as a whole. "It's over now," said Nick Heymann of William Blair, who has followed GE for years. "In a digital economy, there's no real room for it."

General Electric company has already rid itself of the products most Americans know including its appliances and last year, the light bulbs that GE had been making since the late 19th century when the company was founded. The announcement Tuesday marks the apogee of those efforts, divvying up an empire created in the 1980s under Jack Welch, one of America's first CEO "superstars."

GE's stock became one of the most sought after on Wall Street under Welch, routinely outperforming peers and the broader market. Through the 1990s, it returned 1,120.6% on investments. GE's revenue grew nearly fivefold during Welch's tenure, and the company's value increased 30-fold.

Shares lost 80% of their value from the start of 2008 into the first few months of 2009 and has only recently begun to recover as the company unwinds much of what Welch built. The stock is up 30% this year as the asset sales keep coming, and shares rose 6% in heavy trading Tuesday to reach a new high for the year.

GE's aviation unit, it's most profitable, will keep General Electric in the name. GE will spin off its healthcare business in early 2023 and its energy segment including renewable energy, power and digital operations in early 2024.

"The strategic rationale is clear: three well-capitalized, industry leading public companies, each with deeper operational focus and accountability, greater strategic flexibility and tailored capital allocation decisions, wrote Trian Fund Management, a large stakeholder whose founding partner serves on GE's board.

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