General Electric is highly exposed to the credit crisis. GE Capital unit alone owes more than $500 billion!
General Electric ended 2008 on a high note despite the battered economy, its huge debt load and its faltering credit arm.
The diverse conglomerate with businesses in media (NBC, Universal), industrial (energy, technology) and finance (GE Capital) said today that it earned in 2008 $18 billion – the third highest earnings year in its history – generating $19.1 billion of cash from activities, on total revenues of $183 billion.
However, GE CEO Jeff Immelt expects an extremely difficult 2009 with total revenues to be flat or to decline 5%, while positioning the company to “return to double-digit growth in a post-recession economy.”
The main problem for GE, if it gets to that post-recession economy intact is its huge debt load – over $500 billion – in this current credit crunch.
That means divestitures, divestitures and more divestitures and cost cutting. Extremely difficult year ahead indeed.
Posted by TechPulse 360 
