GE is literally selling the metaphor for innovation and ideas for $250 million. It's also the last Edison original business.<p>Curious what others think, but I think they undervalue the brand value they are eroding by divesting from all of these low growth business that were the building blocks of their once great brand?
GE lighting(for consumers) died a slow death starting with the elimination incandescent bulbs.
The twisty florescent were made in China on non-exclusive contract, Walmart and whoever else wanted, bought the exact same bulb. What it did achieve was elimination of a US workforce that was a growing financial burden with retirement and medical benefits. Make no mistake, they architected legislation to eliminate the incandescent. The price of the 60w equivalent CF was four times it's incandescent counterpart, and bulbs that still failed on a regular basis due to power supply design.
This was the transformation to a marketing/design company, similar to most companies that put their mark on products today.
With no differentiation, or passionate brand loyalty(for light bulbs!?), it's a race to the bottom..
So GE doesn't make light bulbs, HP doesn't make test equipment, IBM doesn't make computers, and AT&T doesn't have any phone lines. What a strange new world we find ourselves inhabiting.
I'm surprised GE stuck around in a commodity business for so long. Lighting is something we'll always need but the prices are so low these days that I wonder what their margins are.<p>Also, not sure what's next after LEDs.
<i>That should have been impossible. It was protected. I thought they made it protected.</i><p><i>I'm looking ...</i><p><i>Can they save it? Keep all the pieces together, maybe they can save it.</i><p><i>There's nothing to save. Look for yourself. It's just ... gone. There's nothing left.</i>
I recently finished reading "Imagine It Forward" by Beth Comstock. It was story-based lessons from her time at GE and NBC. She discusses the perils of this division. Evidently, per the book, this was been a long time coming.<p>As a side note, the book is good. I don't want to oversell it but it reminded me of "Creativity, Inc." And while the context is corporate/enterprise, there were plenty of valuable takeaways for any company where people matter and change is a given.
GE is practically a bankrupt company. They are planning to survive by selling assets and using the practically guaranteed bonds provided by the Fed. Nobody knows how long this will work out for them.
Was expecting this to have something to do with the shift away from incandescent bulbs, but apparently not.<p>(Is it just me, or do the newer, environmentally friendly bulbs seem not to last nearly as long?)
After crushing the Incandescent bulb to prop up Theke nascent fluorescent/LED bulb market, Like a Walmart in a small town, they leave and let the rest of us pickup the pieces.
Does anyone here use their zigbee or z-wave switches? I was considering getting them, but if they're leaving the lighting business then I might not.
Back in high school, in 1989, we got a tour of a GE light bulb factory (closed now since 2010 when they outsourced to China). It was interesting as the machinery looked to be early 20th century, but retrofitted as needed with modern PLC. They had 18 parallel lines cranking out bulbs. The automated warehouse was neat. Robotic pallet fetchers controlled by a VAX.
Link is broken, actual link is <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/05/ge-switches-off-light-bulb-business-after-almost-130-years/" rel="nofollow">https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/05/ge-sw...</a>
I use incandescents at my home because the alternatives are very RF-noisy. GE's incandescents are (were?) among the worst for life. Thankfully there are American companies making quality incandescents right here at home now.
Visiting the USA, I was surprised at how much advertising there was for GEICO. Multiple ads per hour on various channels.<p>GE has been a finance and insurance company for some time.