General Electric Getting Out of Appliances
By Dana Cimilluca, Carol Hymowitz, Matthew Karnitschnig and Rick Carew
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

General Electric Co. (GE) plans to start an auction for its appliances business, people familiar with the matter said.

If completed, a sale could end more than 100 years of GE’s involvement with appliances.

GE has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to run an auction for the appliances, or “white goods,” unit, which could fetch between $5 billion and $8 billion, the people said.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)

With appliance sales getting hit by the slowing U.S. economy and the housing bust, jettisoning the business could help GE reach its long-term goal of boosting profits by at least 10% annually.

The sale of the appliance business is bound to be emotional for many GE executives and for people in Louisville, Ky., where the business is located. But a sale would fit with Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt’s strategy of shedding slower-growing industrial businesses and focusing on higher-growth technology operations. A sale could also help appease critics who are calling for a more dramatic restructuring of the 120-year-old company, a chorus that grew noisier after GE’s surprise first-quarter earnings disappointment and forecast reduction last month.

Smartmoney.Com – Click for Complete Story|