(Reuters) – General Electric completed its split into three companies on Tuesday, marking the end of an era for the pioneering industrial conglomerate that was once a symbol of American business might.
The industrial giant’s aerospace and energy businesses will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange as separate entities on Tuesday, more than a year after its health care businesses began trading on Nasdaq.
The breakup is the culmination of CEO Larry Culp’s efforts to revive the company that has struggled, including the 2008 financial crisis that nearly bankrupted its most profitable business, GE Capital.
In late 2021, Culp announced the dissolution that had eluded a generation of insiders after the company had grown significantly by venturing into various businesses under his predecessors.
Such was GE’s importance that its financial arm was deemed “too big to fail” by the US government.
But as it lurched from crisis to crisis, GE, a founding member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, lost its place in the index in June 2018 and Culp, who took over as CEO after a few months, cut its dividend to a penny to save money.
He began informally discussing the idea of a breakup with advisers in 2021, Reuters previously reported.
Culp, who is now CEO of GE Aerospace, will ring the opening bell at the NYSE on Tuesday, alongside Scott Strazik, CEO of energy company Vernova.
Some Wall Street industry analysts deferred coverage of GE to their aerospace and energy counterparts and recalled their coverage of a company born after famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison merged Edison General Electric Co with a rival to form GE in the late 1800s.
Analysts now estimate the market value of GE Aerospace, which has been a cash cow for the Boston-based company, at more than $100 billion after the split.
“With the successful launch of three independent public companies now complete, today marks a final historic milestone in GE’s multi-year transformation,” Culp said Tuesday.
Last month, GE Aerospace, which makes engines for Boeing and Airbus planes, forecast operating profit of about $10 billion in 2028 thanks to strong demand for its products and services, and said it aimed for an initial dividend payment of 30% of net profit.
The company will be listed on the NYSE under the symbol GE. GE Vernova will trade under the symbol GEV.
(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
