Thread regarding General Electric Co. layoffs

Larry Culp to become chief of GE aviation business ahead of three-way split
by Steff Chávez in Chicago

General Electric chair and chief executive Larry Culp will become head of GE Aviation, one of three separate public companies that will come from the break-up of the industrial conglomerate.

Current GE Aviation chief executive John Slattery will become its chief commercial officer, GE announced on Monday.

Rounding out the GE Aviation leadership team are Russell Stokes who will be chief executive of Aviation’s largest segment, Commercial Engines and Services, and Rahul Ghai who will join as chief financial officer from Otis Worldwide Corporation.

The other two spin-offs will focus on healthcare and energy. GE Healthcare is expected to break off next year, while GE Renewable Energy, GE Power and GE Digital will together form the energy company in 2024.

GE Aviation, which makes jet engines, components and systems for both military and commercial aircraft, will emerge from the original GE.

“GE Aviation is an exceptional business in growing commercial and military sectors that is shaping the future of flight,” Culp said in a statement. “There is tremendous opportunity in aviation over the coming years.”

GE became the world’s largest company under former chief executive Jack Welch, but the global financial crisis of 2007-2009 exposed the group’s vulnerabilities, particularly its overreliance on GE Capital, most of which was eventually sold.

Since then, the Boston-based group has pursued a restructuring path that led to a break-up that highlights how the conglomerate business model has fallen out of favour, with greater focus now on smaller, more efficient corporate entities.