Business | The Economist
Nov 13th 2021
Listen to this story
Your browser does not support the <audio> element.
Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android.
After years of complaints from investors that its sprawling empire of businesses was hindering profits, General Electric decided to split into three, independently run companies. Its health-care assets will be spun off in 2023; energy and power will be rolled into one and spun off in 2024; and aviation is to remain the sole focus of today’s GE. The conglomerate has been shedding businesses for over a decade. The decision to split heralds the end of arguably the world’s best-known conglomerate, a titan of American business throughout the 20th century.
On the road
Rivian, a maker of electric vehicles backed by Amazon, had a successful stockmarket debut on the Nasdaq. Its stock rose by 30% above the offer price, giving it a market capitalisation of over $100bn, more than either Ford or General Motors. The company…