Recent years have been spent spitting out one notable business after another. The timing of the break-up announcement was determined by the sale of a large aircraft-financing unit. The transaction reduced debt by enough to provide the three soon-to-be independent companies with an investment-grade credit rating. Mr Culp, the firm’s boss since 2018, speaks of the “illusory benefits of synergy” to be traded for the certain benefits of focus. “A sharper purpose attracts and motivates people,” he says.
Having boasted of its management nous, it now seems that poor management is what did it for a unified GE. The contest to replace Welch was widely seen as pitting the best global executives against one another, with the losers hired to run other big firms. But his successors struggled. Jeffrey Immelt, Welch’s hand-picked replacement, retired under a cloud in 2017. John Flannery, once seen as a wizard behind the rise of the health-care division, took over but was fired after little more than a year. Mr Culp was brought in from outside, a step last taken in the 19th century.
During much of Welch’s tenure and its immediate aftermath GE was the most valuable company in the world, reaching a peak market value nearly five times its current $121bn. It is tempting to conclude that GE’s failure illustrates the demise of the conglomerate. That is refuted by the diversification of today’s most valuable companies: tech firms that have branched out into driverless cars, cloud computing and so on. Rather, GE’s story reflects how even the most valuable American companies may be flawed—and if flaws emerge, may be thoroughly transformed.■
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