Business Breakdowns
Episode 74 GE: Lessons From the Rise and Fall
Business Breakdowns

Episode 74: GE: Lessons From the Rise and Fall

Business Breakdowns

Episode 74

GE: Lessons From the Rise and Fall

Josh Aguilar is a senior equity analyst at Morningstar. We cover GE's business strategy, how it lost the right to be an industrial conglomerate, and the role GE Capital played in its rise.

This episode is brought to you by:

Tegus. Tegus is the new digital hub for market intelligence. The Tegus platform empowers Investors and Corporate Development teams to invest smarter by pairing best-in-class technology with the highest quality user-generated content and data. Find out why a majority of the top firms are using Tegus on a daily basis. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.

Scribe. Scribe, the trusted transcription provider for business. Scribe powers call transcription, closed captioning and more with best-in-class accuracy, speed and security. It’s the chosen transcription service for all of S&P Global, including CapIQ Pro, and clients like leading market intelligence platform, Tegus. Scribe accurately transcribes messy, difficult audio including company and product names, currencies, accents and numbers. Challenge us with your hardest audio and see how we stack up! Visit scribefreetrial.com to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription today. 

[00:04:05] - [First question] - What GE looks like today compared to its peak

[00:07:42] - The reasons why GE lost so much of its power

[00:15:14] - How much of their success can be attributed to being propped up by leverage  

[00:17:18] - The strategy they’re operating with today and the businesses within GE

[00:24:05] - Drivers in the decision to split up their business and end the conglomerate era

[00:25:34] - Would they have made disposals if they were operating from a strong position 

[00:27:15] - What their capital allocation and free cash flow will look like going forward

[00:29:38] - GE’s centralized thought process of the past and their management style now

[00:31:14] - Exxon Mobil: An Aging Energy Empire

[00:32:23] - Driving factors behind their decision to transition towards green energy

[00:34:36] - How the margin profile plays out and competitive dynamics of renewables

[00:35:16] - Thoughts about conglomerates and what will work in the future 

[00:37:07] - What could lead to GE’s success in the future over the coming years

[00:38:56] - How the market values these types of business 

[00:39:43] - Main takeaways from his analysis of GE

[00:43:55] - Clip from Founders about GE’s founder, Thomas Edison

GE: Lessons From the Rise and Fall

Introduction

Matt
This is Matt Reustle, and today we are breaking down the historic General Electric. Honestly, approaching this episode was a unique challenge. Today's GE barely resembles what was once the largest company in the world. So rather than purely focus on what's remaining, we decided to use a lens of then versus now. To breakdown General Electric, I was joined by Josh Aguilar, GE Analyst at Morningstar and enthusiast on all things capital allocation. It's a theme we revisit throughout the conversation on GE's time as a conglomerate and its rise and fall. The story of GE has many chapters. The origin dates back to Thomas Edison in 1896. And while GE has been classified as an industrial business for a very long time, it really is hard to overlook the technological breakthroughs that they've introduced.

The incandescent light bulb, the x-ray machine, the electric locomotive and commercial jet engine, the business really has had no shortage of historic products. But when Jack Welch took over in 1981, he implemented a playbook that brought GE much praise over the coming decades. And Josh and I focused our conversation on the end of Welch's era until the present day. Now, if you'd like to hear more on the early years of General Electric and particularly Thomas Edison, make sure to check out our newest Colossus teammate, David Senra, and his podcast, Founders. David conveniently dropped a new episode on Edison this week. And after my conversation, you'll hear a preview of that episode. So stay tuned for that after my conversation with Josh. Please enjoy this breakdown of General Electric.

Access the full transcript
Sign in or register to view episode transcripts.

Contact

Get in touch at help@joincollossus.com