GE Sells Lightbulb Business for About $250 Million
May 27 2020 - 9:47AM
Dow Jones News
By Thomas Gryta and Cara Lombardo
General Electric Co. is getting out of the business of making
lightbulbs, selling a unit that defined the company for nearly a
century but had become one of its last consumer products.
GE said it would sell its lighting business to Savant Systems
Inc., a seller of home automation technology. Terms of the deal
weren't disclosed but the transaction valued the unit at around
$250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
GE had been looking to sell the business for several years. The
conglomerate once made refrigerators, microwaves and bulbs but has
exited those consumer businesses as part of a yearslong
restructuring. It has shifted its focus to making heavy equipment,
like power turbines, aircraft engines and hospital machines.
GE Lighting will remain based in Cleveland, and its more than
700 employees will transfer to Savant, which will also get a
long-term license for the GE brand. GE no longer discloses revenue
for the lighting business, which it slimmed down over the
years.
The unit traces its roots back to GE's founding 130 years ago
when Thomas Edison invented the first viable incandescent lamp. In
1935, the first Major League Baseball night game was played under
GE lights. A GE engineer invented the LED light in 1962.
Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@wsj.com and Cara Lombardo
at cara.lombardo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 27, 2020 09:32 ET (13:32 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024