GE Stock Falls as CEO Backs ‘Deliberate’ Pace of Change
Shares of General Electric (GE) have fallen about 50% over the past year, and on May 23 GE saw its stock drop more than 7%, its biggest one-day loss since April 20, 2009. Much of Wednesday’s decline came as CEO John Flannery was speaking to attendees at the Electrical Products Group (EPG) conference in Longboat Key, Florida.
Flannery told the group he thinks Wednesday’s selloff could be due to investors who are disappointed he has not done more—and moved more quickly—to reorganize the company and stem the tide of financial losses, in large part caused by a slowing global market for gas turbines that has dogged the company’s Power division. Flannery acknowledged he has moved at a “deliberate” pace since taking over the company in August of last year.
Flannery, who has worked in various roles at GE since 1987, said he’s heard the grumblings, such as “What’s taking so long?” with the company’s turnaround plan, a plan the chief executive talked about even before he took the reins of GE from outgoing CEO Jeffrey Immelt.…