A global success story

 

General Electric first saw the light of day over 100 years ago, in 1892.
Founded by Thomas Edison, GE has grown today into a diversified corporation operating in sectors as far apart as new technologies, industry and services. It is the only company to have remained in the Dow Jones Composite Index since its launch in 1896. It also has the largest market capitalisation of any company in the world.

In 2007, GE returned a net profit of $22,5 billion on sales of $173 billion, up 9% on 2006. GE is credited with a Standard and Poors AAA rating, a mark of undisputable financial robustness. The company has been named Fortune magazine's “most admired company in the United States” for the last seven years. It looks like it will continue the run this year.

GE remains at the forefront of e-commerce, using internet technologies to full potential at all stages of the business chain, from purchasing through to end sales, to provide a more efficient, quicker, more intelligent service for its clients.

GE has a global workforce of over 300,000 people, accross more than 100 countries. Most of them work outside the United States; it is these people who, through their dynamism, their imagination and their cultural diversity, create the group's wealth and ensure its success.

Over the last fifteen years the group has seen an unprecedented expansion in its European business, establishing it as a permanent presence in the region. Troughout the EMEA region, GE employs over 95,000 people today and achieves annual sales of around $42,4 billion.