GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years

Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by dv_dt on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @12:59PM (#23326247)

Considering that the GE brand is mostly likely to be encountered by consumers is the appliance line, and that division and branding was sold to a Chinese company in 2016, I think this brand erosion is just another chunk of company brand falling into the sea.

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by terracatta on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @01:29PM (#23326734)

Yeah it's definitely part of a pattern of behavior that started with the ouster of Immelt.

Basically the start of their downfall was Trian Partners, an activist investor, bought $2.5 billion of GE stock in 2015 with the express goal of GE taking on a ton of debt to do share buybacks and raise the dividend

https://steveblank.com/2017/11/01/why-ges-jeff-immelt-lost-h...

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by petra on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @02:13PM (#23327420)

Wasn't it GE's CEO who pushed the idea that the company's goal is to optimize share value ?

Karma's a bitch.

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by beervirus on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @10:03PM (#23332618)

“Stakeholder capitalism” notwithstanding, that’s kind of the goal of every company.

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by windexh8er on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @11:52PM (#23333205)

Thanks to Milton Friedman's doctrine [0]. Unfortunate that is viewed as the default goal.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by samdamsamm on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @10:18PM (#23332710)

Stakeholder capitalism is an oxymoron. You either hold capital or you bear the stakes. That’s the point.

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by Simulacra on Thursday May 28, 2020 @01:13PM (#23339800)

Precisely

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by jimbob45 on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @01:17PM (#23326535)

This should be the top comment. GE effectively has nothing to do with the lightbulb brand anymore. They don't even own the naming rights to use their own name on lightbulbs that they could (but don't) make.

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Re:GE switches off light bulb business after almost 130 years by kube-system on Wednesday May 27, 2020 @05:56PM (#23330572)

Did you mean to say 'appliances'?

This very article is about them divesting the lightbulb business which, according to the linked statement from GE themselves, will happen in mid-2020.

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