I was wondering, what's the worst thing that can happen if GE gets broken up in parts?
From what I can see, many believe that the whole company is worth significantly more in parts than as a whole, so it seems like that would be a logical next move.
Wouldn't breaking it up then be good for both the shareholders and employees?
Mindless dribble from idiots pretending to be smart, is pathetic and sad. I feel sorry for some of these posters.
No, the worst thing that could happen would be an asteroid hitting the earth and wiping us all out.
The worst thing that could happen is we all lose our pensions and end up living in cardboard boxes.
https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/how-does-employer-bankruptcy-affect-pensions.html
Google pension benefit guarantee corporation. There is a maximum benefit and certain rules that both the employer and employee must abide by for this to apply.
Because GE employees don't trust the verbal garbage that's coming from people who are only too willing to shaft them. Distrust is rampant and people aren't sure who is going to screw them next. Bankruptcy, vastly under-funded pension fund, uncontrollable debt and pension entitlement are mentioned together and this doesn't sit comfortably with many. As we say on the workshop floor, noscitur a sociis, which means a word is known by the company it keeps.
It's really weird that people keep on talking about losing a pension. No matter how many times that's shown to be impossible it still comes up.
The way those posts are written it seems to be the same person over and over. Why would someone feel the need to repeat that?
@1cjm false. Pension is insured by an independent entity.
Right now GE can hide behind opaque accounting and promises of future cash flows. Selling the parts means converting assets to cash. That would remove any doubt as to asset value and eliminate any hope of future cash flows.
The worst case scenario is that the cash would not be enough to cover the liabilities and the company would go bankrupt leaving creditors out of pocket, shareholders holding nothing and employees out of work, losing both pension and outstanding compensation payments.
GE has a lot of intangible assets that can't be converted to cash, tangible assets that are worth less than book, and is in a weak bargaining position since potential buyers know how bad they need to sell.
The ge stock in your retirement account becomes worthless and your pension disappears. See Enron. And if you have a long term health care policy through ge all the premiums you have paid are for nothing. These liabilities are some of the reasons a breakup of ge would be difficult.