GE restructures from six units to four

Jeffrey Immelt has been chairman and CEO of General Electric since 2000. Source: Time

GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt announced Friday that the company has consolidated its organizational structure.

Effective immediately, GE said it is moving from six to four segments, including two infrastructure segments:

• GE Technology Infrastructure: Led by Vice Chairman John Rice, the segment includes Healthcare, Aviation, Transportation and Enterprise Solutions;
• GE Energy Infrastructure: Led by newly appointed Vice Chairman John Krenicki, the segment includes Energy, Oil & Gas and Water;
• GE Capital: Led by Vice Chairman Mike Neal, the segment aggregates all the financial service businesses including Commercial Finance, GE Money (GECAS, Energy Financial Services) and Corporate Treasury;
• NBC Universal: Led by Jeff Zucker, the segment is unchanged.

Immelt also said that the GE board of directors had named Krenicki, a 24-year GE veteran, as a vice chairman of GE. Since 2005, Krenicki has been president and CEO of GE Energy, a supplier of power generation technology, energy services and energy management systems. Previously, he was president and CEO of GE Plastics and GE Advanced Materials.

“We have higher-growth, higher-margin businesses and organizationally have simplified the company from 11 business segments in 2001 to four segments today,” Immelt said.

Bloomberg News reported that approximately $81 billion of GE’s market value has evaporated since April, when Immelt disclosed a first-quarter earnings decline that he attributed to turmoil in financial markets.

Immelt announced plans to sell GE’s consumer-lending operations in Japan for approximately $5.4 billion this month. The company also plans to spin-off of its consumer lighting and electrical switches business, in addition to the appliances unit.