Evan On... The GE Empire

Clara Gaymard, regional executive, General Electric

High revs in the recession

Garel Rhys asks who'll stay on course through the recession: Porsche or Volkswagen?

After The Bottom Line looked at General Electric, Evan Davis considers whether being a massive conglomerate makes sense in the current climate

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There was one particular issue about one of the three companies represented there today that I did want to raise.

General Electric. It’s an enormous company, everybody knows it, everybody knows its name, and it’s enormously diverse. And it raises this very important issue: why have a company that extends from CNBC and NBC on the one hand to energy infrastructure projects or gas turbines and aircraft engines on the other. It’s just does it make sense as a company?

I wanted to put that question to Clara, did she answer it, did she give a clear view of what synergies exist between all the pieces of the GE empire, including of course the capital bit, the finance arm, did she give a clear answer? Well, that’s for you to decide.