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Culp Fiction

In two months, GE, which Jack Welch once steered to a $650 billion market value, will officially be split into three public companies—the final act of its last C.E.O., Larry Culp. It didn’t have to be this way for America’s formerly most iconic company. This is how we got here.

Larry Culp
In November 2021, Larry Culp announced he was splitting up GE, ending its reign as the premier American conglomerate. The split-up is now upon us. Photo: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
February 7, 2024

Sometime in April, after 132 years, the General Electric Company will be no more. GE, once the world’s greatest conglomerate, will be split into its component parts. The aerospace and energy businesses will be spun off, following the healthcare division that C.E.O. Larry Culp amputated last year. Time will tell whether breaking up GE and abandoning the conglomerate structure was a good thing or a bad thing. But one thing is for sure: When Jack Welch ran GE, it was often the most admired and most valuable company in the world. How it reached this fateful denouement is a saga both simple and complex.