GE long term is dead as an industrial conglomerate powerhouse, destined to be parted out. Jack Welch turned them into a bank, and then they divested the bank (now Synchrony). Very disappointing.
So at least to GE's credit, the end of Welch's tenure and during Immelt's GE solidified its position at the pinnacle of aeropropulsion and related research (namely, GE Global R&D). Until recently, GE had maintained this excellent reputation and while Schenectady is not desirable for everyone, for those in the physical engineering realms, a GE Global R&D position was coveted and brought it with it significant cachet. Apparently not any more. They've laid off quite a few staff involved in bringing serious technology to fruition (e.g., Ceramic Matrix Composites in gas turbine hot sections). This recent activist shareholder garbage once again brings us back to the persistent theme of destroying the seed corn in favor of short-term returns. It's a real travesty.
GE Capital’s deposits platform went to Goldman, the lending went to Synchrony. I don’t have the background on why it wasn’t acquired as a whole, but I’m sure the information exists online.
Was never very impressed with Synchrony. They used to address all my mail to Null Null, a bit disconcerting for an organization who ostensibly has to program systems to keep track of how much money they need to give me back.
"We will make a list of our clients, and how much money each of them has given us to invest. We will keep this list in a safe place. If we have time, we will make a copy of the list, in case something happens to the first list."
Edit: Yep, Walgreens also not much higher vs 5 years ago.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WBA?p=WBA