Jumping Brands

The General Electric Company (GE) is a multinational technology conglomerate established in New York, USA. In terms of market capitalisation, GE is the third largest company in the world. In the late 1960s, elements of US tax law and accounting practices resulted in a sharp rise in the so-called assembly of conglomerates. GE, a conglomerate long before the coining of the term, is evidently the most successful organisation of this sort.

GE was one of the eight major computer producers through the 1960s. The company had an extensive line of both general and special purpose computers. Amongst them were the GE 200, 400 and 600 series computers. It’s widely believed that GE got into the computer industry because back in the 1950s, they were by far the largest user of computers outside the US government. However, GE decided to sell its computer division to Honeywell in 1970.

In 1986, GE bought up RCA, mainly for the NBC TV network. The rest was sold to a few other companies, including Bertelsmann and Thomson SA.

In 2002, Norwest Venture Partners and Francisco Partners acquired a division of GE, GEIS, which stands for GE Information Systems. The new company, now named GXS, is based in Gaithersburg. GXS is a major provider of e-Commerce solutions. General Electric maintains a considerable ownership position in GXS.

In 2004, GE acquired Vivendi’s TV and film assests, making it the third largest media organisation in the world. The new company was called NBC Universal. In that same year, GE also completed the spin-off of many of its mortgage assets into a new independent company, Genworth Financial, based in Virginia.