GE Chief Jeff Immelt Resigns - major investor sought sea change

Jeff Immelt,who led General Electric through some tumultuous years after the celebrated Jack Welch retired,has turned over the reigns of the multinational conglomerate to John Flannery,President and CEO of the GE Health Care subsidiary.Mr.Immelt was faulted by investors for the company's lackluster share price;indeed,it was down about 12% on the year as of close of trading on Friday.
Mr.Flannery said:
I am privileged to have spent the last 16 years at the company working for Jeff,one of the greatest business leaders of our time.*
Mr.Flannery,who takes over on 1 August,also promised to assess the company's condition.He was credited with the turnaround of GE Health Care,increasing organic revenue by five percent in 2016.*
Mr.Immelt was well-liked by his fellow CEOs,including Jamie Dimon of Chase;Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs;and Jack Welch,his predecessor.As for GE itself,it stated that:
Immelt's vision has positioned GE for the future and greatly strengthened the GE culture.
Lead independent director Jack Brennan added that:
During this time of dynamic global markets and relentless focus on technical and operational excellence,there is no better person to lead GE than John Flannery.He brings unique experience and a broad skill set to the job.*
Jeff Immelt,who took charge immediately before the 9-11 attacks,saw the company through the years of the Afghan and Iraq Wars,as well as the Financial Crisis.He slimmed GE Finance down and jettisoned GE Appliances;while at the same time purchasing France's Alstom Power and establishing GE Software.This wasn't quite enough for one of the firm's biggest investors,billionaire Nelson Pelz,whose Trian Capital bought a one percent stake in GE in 2015.Trian pushed GE to reduce costs and boost profitability.*
The company's shares rose 3.67% to 28.97 as of 12:36 pm.*
General Electric (GE)

Monday Newsline:Asian Shares Rise;GE Acquires Alstom Power;Michelle Wie Champion

Asian shares rose Moday,but trimmed their early gains as trading progressed,with the CNBC 100 ASIA IDX falling from an 0.24% gain down to an 0.13 rise.The Hang Seng index,for instance,had been up 0.25,but even slipped into negative territory,down 0.11%.India's Nifty Fifty futures were down 0.32%.
The CNBC 100 ASIA IDX was lifted by a strong ASX 200 as Australians were reassured by robust commodity prices,with both NYMEX and Brent crude futures appreciating on the Iraq crisis,and copper and aluminium markets being cheered by the flash HSBC China PMI Index,which showed expansion of Chinese manufacturing for the first time in six months.The index registered 50.8 in June versus 49.4 for the final May reading.A reading of 50 or above means increased factory activity.
South Korea's KOSPI was up 0.35% on the strength of Samsung Electronics' good showing.*
The S&P futures presaged a positive morning for US stocks,with the S&P futures up 0.25%.This follows on a record high for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes on Friday.
One factor in play this morning is General Electric's succussful 17.6 billion dollar bid for the power assets of the French company Alstom,beating out the German conglomerate Siemens.This was in part due to several trips to Paris by GE CEO Jeff Immelt to sell the deal to French authorities.*
In sport,American Michelle Wie,24,long one of the star players of LPGA golf,finally achieved the milestone of winning her first major championship Sunday as she took the US Women's Open at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina.It was the end of a long quest by the tall Stanford graduate and onetime wunderkind to meet the high expectations which were set for her.She clinched the national trophy with a two under par 70 on the rigorous Donald Ross Pinehurst #2 course.She now has won a total of four LPGA tournaments,her popularity with the media and her colleagues tending to exceed her actual career accomplishments until this point.*
General Electric(GE),Samsung Electronics Ltd(OO5930:Korea SE)

General Electric:Viewpoint Today

It just is today the most resilient economic system on earth,GE CEO Jeff Immelt said of the United States.The stakes are so darn high for the country and for all of us.Nervous laughter is a bad strategy.
We're asking for the same territorial system that our global competitors have.We're kind of like the last American company that competes in the fields that we're in.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been consistent to his word.It's not bad to have one person in power who's been more or less consistent since 2007.
If the fiscal cliff happens,that's a failure of governance-and it shouldn't happen,Mr.Immelt added.
Jeff Immelt,56,has been leading GE,the world's third largest company,since September 7,2001.He has been named to Barron's "World's Best CEOs" list three times.Mr.Immelt is also head of the President's Jobs Council.
General Electric(GE)

No Apologies Offered

Jeff Immelt continued to assess GE's Q4 performance.In his view,GE did well under the toughest conditions of his lifetime.We're not gonna apologize for our Q4 results,he stated.We have cash for mergers and acquisitions if conditions warrant.We're gonna lend money.We want to kind of stick it out and see what happens.Our businesses are good businesses:energy,health,aviation,lending.When the fog lifts someday,you've gotta like this company.We're good at things it pays to be good at.Nonetheless,the layoff cycle hasn't ended yet.You've got to count on that continuing in the coming months,Mr.Immelt cautioned.

A Sound Business Model

GE CEO Jeff Immelt says that he runs the company for investors.Our businesses generate cash even in this environment.My commercial paper's on the way down to fifty billion dollars.I get S and P's concern,but it's not gonna change the way we manage the company.We've got a business model in financial services that really works.We've de-risked the financial services business model.We did almost 40 billion of origination in Q4 of 2008.We will remain a significant player in the financial services market.One of the benefits of GE is we can take tax breaks from the financial services unit and apply them to the industrial sector,Mr.Immelt pointed out.

GE Delivers

General Electric delivered results in a very tough environment,CEO Jeff Immelt said.Our cash was very strong.Our liquidity was very strong at the end of the year.We've met or beat every cash number since the crisis began.We've got 48 billion of cash on hand.It makes me feel good about the dividend.We've got the cash and the operating model that's gonna secure the dividend in this environment.We've got a 100 billion revenue,Jeff Immelt noted.

NBC and GE

We need to embrace one another,Jeff Zucker,CEO of NBC Universal,said of his network and its parent company, General Electric(GE).We've had a very active 16 months in trying to reshape NBC Universal.The fact is,Jeff Immelt,CEO of GE,has been very clear that NBC is a very important part of GE.When the pipes work,there's nothing like it.Nobody has spent more on the media space than GE has on NBC Universal the past 16 months,Mr.Zucker revealed.Telemundo,the Spanish language network,remains an incredibly important part of NBC-U.It's been harder than we thought it would be to develop it.We need to continue to improve there,but I'm confident that will happen,Mr.Zucker asserted.

Domestic Weakness,Global Strength

The global infrastructure growth continues,GE CEO Jeff Immelt believes.There are tough times ahead vis-a-vis the U.S. consumer.Housing has to stabilize in order to feel like we have a consumer that wants to buy again.We don't see a slowdown in the global economy.These environments continue to be robust.We see in Mubadala a company like ourselves,the spirit of learning that still exists,Jeff Immelt explained.

The Full Power of GE

We shouldn't overdo partnerships,GE CEO Jeff Immelt continued,but when we do them,we put the full power of the company behind them.We are attractive to the best of the best because we have this unique structure as a country and a company.We want to bet on a multitude of energy technologies.Renewables have to be in the lead.We're investing that way.Abu Dhabi is building a renewable energy enterprise,thinking 10-20 years ahead.I agree with almost everything Boone Pickens says,Mr.Immelt added.Khaldoon al Mubarak,CEO of Mubadala,said that his firm is a GE in the making.This is a wonderful start today.

Capitalizing on Strength

The alliance of GE and The Mubadala Company gives GE more capacity for its great originators,says GE CEO Jeff Immelt.The intention is for a full-fledged joint venture.This allows us to strengthen the company where it is already strong.The deal gives us a better opportunity to minimize risk and maximize return.The joint venture capitalizes on the strengths of both companies,Mr.Immelt observed.

A Candid Admission

Speaking candidly,NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker admitted that its theme parks are suffering from the weak U.S. economy.Attendance and DVD sales are not what they've been.Nonetheless,box office and T.V. advertising are still strong.The video content on recently-acquired Hulu is premium,quality content,so advertisers are supporting it-unlike YouTube,Mr.Zucker stated.As for the parent corporation,Mr.Zucker said that,in the past 12 months,General Electric has been incredibly supportive of NBC Universal.GE CEO Jeff Immelt has made it clear that NBC-U is an important part of the GE portfolio.There's no question that consumer-facing businesses are struggling right now,Mr.Zucker said.I think it'll hold up pretty well for us,and the flip side is that we're making acquisitions,the media executive pointed out.