The General Electric Company, or GE, is a multinational technology and services giant based in New York. GE is the world's twelfth largest company in terms of market capitalisation.
GE's divisions include GE Capital (including GE Commercial Finance and GE Money and GE Consumer Finance, GE Technology Infrastructure (including GE Aviation, the former Smiths Aerospace and GE Healthcare), GE Energy Infrastructure, and NBC Universal, an entertainment company.)
GE is facing the brunt of the slowdown. For the fourth quarter ended December 2008, GE's profits fell by 44 per cent to $3.72 billion. In the year-ago period, the conglomerate's profits stood at $6.69 billion. The company also slashed its quarterly dividend by two-thirds to 10 cents per share, it is the first ever quarterly cut since the 1930s.
GE announced job cuts as well as a restructuring of its finance unit in December 2008. The company has laid off over 12,000 employees.
The company with a presence in more than 100 countries, employs over 3,00,000 people worldwide. The company was founded in 1878 by Thomas Edison as the Edison Electric Light Company.
Image: General Electric Company chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt. | Photograph: Claro Cortes/Reuters
Also read: CEOs paint a bleak picture of the future
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