General Electric Company

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

A global conglomerate

Producing everything from light bulbs to aircraft engines, General Electric (GE) is one of the world's 10 largest industrial firms.  Although its market value has slipped considerably by the past decade's end, it is still among the largest of all American companies, employing more than 300,000 people worldwide and generating annual sales in excess of $180 billion.  For its widespread interests in entertainment (through its interest in NBC Universal), finance (via GE Commercial Finance and GE Money), manufacturing and health care, and its presence in over 100 countries, the company maintains a spot in the top 10 of  Fortune magazine's Most Admired Company list each year.

GE originated as the home laboratory of the great American inventor Thomas Alva Edison, who began working on light powered by electricity as a replacement for gas light in the early 1870s.  Initially incorporated as the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878, numerous acquisitions and mergers resulted in the firm simplifying its name to General Electric in 1892, whereupon it began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.  Having been inducted as one of the first companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896, GE has the distinction of being the only firm of the original set to remain on the list.

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