BOSTON, Mass. — General Electric (GE) announced Tuesday that it’s dividing itself into three public companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy.
The storied American manufacturer based in Boston says it plans to split up by first pursuing a tax-free spin-off of GE Healthcare, creating a pure-play company at the center of precision health in early 2023. GE expects to retain a 19.9% stake in that company.
Secondly, GE says it will combine GE Renewable Energy, GE Power, and GE Digital into one business. The hope is that it will lead the nation’s transition to renewable energy. GE says it will then pursue a tax-free spin-off of that business in early 2024.
Following those transactions, GE says it will be an aviation-focused company that will aim to shape the future of flight.
As independently run companies, GE says it believes the businesses will be better positioned to deliver long-term growth and create value customers, investors, and employees.
“By creating three industry-leading, global public companies, each can benefit from greater focus, tailored capital allocation, and strategic flexibility to drive long-term growth and value for customers, investors, and employees,” wrote GE CEO H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. in a statement. “We are putting our technology expertise, leadership, and global reach to work to better serve our customers.”
GE says Culp will serve as non-executive chairman of the GE health care company upon its spin-off. He will continue to serve as chairman and CEO of GE until the second spin-off, at which point, he will lead the GE aviation-focused company going forward.
Peter Arduini will assume the role of president and CEO of GE Healthcare effective Jan. 1, 2022, while Scott Strazik will be the CEO of the energy business, with John Slattery still CEO of aviation, according to GE.
All these changes come after the company rid itself of the products that most Americans know it for, like its appliances and light bulbs that GE has been making since the company was founded in the 1800s, The Associated Press reports.