The subunit I worked for, was almost supernaturally dysfunctional.
I was there for 18 months, and they had 3 reorgs, in that time.
Once, the VP of our division, called an “all-hands” meeting, to tell us that he was a lawyer that didn’t have a computer, didn’t like software (we were a software company), basically, didn’t like us, and that we’d better get on the stick, and make number go up.
Ah…fun times…
During that time my software company was brought in to bid on a project for GE. Cool project, making a repository for technical drawings going back a century; turns out they still maintain power plants that old! Anyway, it seemed to be going great until GE presented a term sheet, which included a maximum pay for SWEs under $30/hr, requirement to submit all data on hours worked and pay issued, maximum profit margin of 6%, etc. It was instantly obvious they considered software the same as sweatshop labor and wanted nothing to do with engineering real solutions. A big "Nevermind" and walked away.
Still shaking my head on how disconnected from reality the GE mgt was. Decided to never invest in the stock, but watched it continue to climb for years before it finally collapsed for good. Always surprising how long large orgs can survive on sheer inertia.
[Edit: typos]
30-Aug-2000 GE was $580.94 billion
It's never gotten above around half that valuation since.
Most key divisions were sold off. You can get "GE" label appliances, but it is a Chinese company. Plastics, which invented Lexan, was sold to Sabic. On and on. It is simply not the company it was and will take decades, if ever for it to become that again.
30-July-2020 = $53.13 billion
Since then, the remaining aerospace division has recovered to $257B, but it is a different business.
edit add ref link: https://companiesmarketcap.com/general-electric/marketcap/