Jeffrey Immelt has been the CEO of GE for 5 years, living in the very large shadow cast by former CEO Jack Welch. Senior Writer Diana Brady of Business Week recently interviewed Immelt about his tenure at GE. A portion on the interview is in the September 11, 2006 issue of Business Week. Additional portions of the interview are available through www.businessweek.com/extras. Not only did Immelt have to follow a larger than life character in the slot as CEO, but he took over shortly before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Also included in Immelt's rookie year were the Enron scandal and a general enconomic recession. General Electric stock is still worth less than when Immelt took over, despite his efforts at instilling a culture of innovation.
The interview is short on financial specifics, but Immelt does offer some revealing pesonal comments on himself and his job. Despite the disruptions caused by Immelt trying to foster his own sense of corporate culture throughout the GE behemoth, Immelt still feels he should have moved faster to instill the need for positive response to change. The CEO is the chief advocate of change, no matter whether he or she is the only one in favor of it. Like other CEOs Immelt feels that the regulatory pendulum has swung too far towards the punitive watchdog side of the arc, and needs to return to a more middle course.
Immelt considers the primary focus of his job to be to figure out how to grow GE with an acceptable degree of risk. Immelt is proud that under his watch, GE has grown 65% bigger, and earnings have doubled. Growth posibilities include GE operations in China, currently $6 billion annually, as well as in areas of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
GE stock closed on 5 September 2006 at $33.97, down .17 for the day in lighter than average trading.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-06-2006 @ 4:19PM
jeff bradley said...
if immelt has done such good things as ceo, why has the stock languished during his tenure? from my investment perspective, the ceo and the majority of the board should be replaced with forward thinking (not quarterly thinking)people interested in doing good for the company instead of earning performance bonuses (what a misnomer. it is time for all stock holders, not just ge, to require positive performance from management - or remove them from the organization without the benefit of golden parachutes.
9-06-2006 @ 4:47PM
kevin leo said...
GE bought NBC at the height of the "Friends" & "Today Show" craze. Furthermore, Universal Pictures-- another bet on media is a dud. Now "Friends" is gone and Katie Couric has moved to Sumner Redstone's lap at CBS. The movie industry makes most its money now on FAMILY films like animation or "Invincible" or "Spiderman"--Universal is not player here.
With these media acquisitions, GE is like the the businessman who takes off his tie at a bar and ties it around his head to look fun & exciting. It only works when everyone is drinking the rum & cokes like in the late 90's.
9-06-2006 @ 8:40PM
MARVIN WILLIAMS said...
GE MANAGEMENT KEEPS SPENDING MONEY BUYING COMPANIES THAT PRODUCE ONLY MINIMAL RETURNS, IT ALSO KEEP MAKING LOSING INVESTMENTS. AS NOTED BY THE CEO,
NBC IS NOT A TRUE WINNER EITHER. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS HAVE NOT BROUGHT ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT IN TERMS OF PROPOSALS THAT HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY MANAGEMENT AND TURNED SIGNIFICANT PROFIT. THE COMPANY IS STAYING IN A LAZEE....THE BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD BE JUDGED BY THEIR PERFORMANCE AND IF THEY DO NOT BRING BUSINESS TO GE THEY SHOULD RESIGN AND BE REPLACED WITH OTHERS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED OUTSTANDING BUSINESS SKILLS/MANAGEMENT...THE COMPANY
SEEMS TO KEEP SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS TO ITS LACK OF GROWTH PROBLEMS, BUT HAS NOT FOUND ANY IN LAST 20 YEARS. GE SHOULD BE THE "WALLMART" OF THE TECHNICAL AND BUSINESS WORLDS THROUGH TRUE IMAGINATION..SET UP GE STORES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, MAKE PROUCTS MORE RELIABLE AND GIVE LONG WARRENTIES...THEY WILL SELL.
GE COULD BUILT NEUCLER POWER PLANTS AS AN EXAMPLE OF OPPORTUNTY THAT EXISTS