As with many products and companies, there are two different types of companies. One type is called the parent company, while the other is its subsidiary. Parent companies have no subsidiaries; they own their shares. On the other hand, subsidiaries are held by their parent companies. In the case of General Electric (GE), the parent company is named General Electric Company, while its subsidiary is known simply as GE. Both companies have had a long history of success in their respective industries. Both GE and General Electric are still around today.
Origins
The origins of General Electric (GE) can be traced back to Thomas Edison, who founded the organization in 1892 and later sold his share to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 1916. As of 2017, the company’s headquarters were located at 125 Westinghouse Drive in Schenectady, New York. The name “General Electric” was chosen due to its similarity to the word “general.” However, the company did not start as a general-purpose business but only became well-known in the late 1800s after inventing the first practical incandescent lamp.
GE was founded in 1892 in Schenectady, New York, by Thomas Edison in partnership with Charles Coffin. In 1902, GE merged with Westinghouse and formed General Electric. The company continued to grow throughout the 1950s and 1960s until Sperry Rand purchased it in 1967. At that time, the company was renamed General Electric. Their biggest acquisition was RCA in 1971, where they became the second largest company in America. GE bought several oil companies around that time, including Texaco, Gulf Oil, Phillips Petroleum, and Chevron. Due to their success, they changed their name to General Electric Company. From 2000 to 2002, they owned NBC television networks and CNBC financial news channels. Since 2002, the company has been focusing on the healthcare and finance industries. In 2002, General Electric Co. split its remaining businesses into two companies: General Electric Company; GE Capital; GE Aviation; GE Energy, GE Transportation, and GE Healthcare. In 2010, GE sold off its power business to Wartsila Power’s Finnish unit. Today, General Electric is primarily focused on healthcare, finance and industrial equipment.
Products and Services
In addition to manufacturing appliances, electric motors, lighting systems, medical equipment, and power generation facilities, GE also produces industrial gases, oil refining equipment, nuclear reactors, and jet engines. The company focuses mainly on building machinery and electrical supplies for use in various sectors such as transportation, electronics, healthcare, and energy production.
Headquarters
After being headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company relocated to Schenectady, NY, in 1929. Since then, the headquarters have been located in Schenectady until 2017. Today, the building contains over 5 million square feet of office space.
Employees
At the end of 2016, GE employed approximately 170,000 people worldwide. Of those employees, about 14,000 were based at the Schenectady headquarters alone. Furthermore, the company’s international headquarters were located in London, England, where almost 2,600 employees worked.
Awards & Recognition
Since its founding in 1886, GE has won numerous awards and honours. These achievements include receiving the World War I Liberty Ship contract and inventing the first commercial aeroplane engine.
Financial Performance
By the end of the 20th century, GE managed to surpass $400 billion in annual revenues. Because of this, GE was able to become the world’s largest producer of electricity. At the same time, the company’s net income increased from $876 million in 1990 to $16.7 billion in 2000. Between 2001 and 2004, the company posted net losses totalling $23.9 billion. After the global financial crisis hit in 2008, however, GE was able to turn things around and post profits over the following five years. By 2012, GE’s revenue had surpassed $800 billion.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that Thomas Alva Edison patented the first commercially successful electric lighting system and later sold his company to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. in 1893. In 1902, Westinghouse merged with Thomson-Houston Electric Co., Inc. to become General Electric. General Electric Company is now multibillion dollar company that specializes in various sectors such as transportation, electronics, healthcare, and energy production.
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