General Electric proposes breakup of company, with spinoff of GE Power operations in Schenectady

Nov. 9—BOSTON — General Electric Tuesday morning announced plans to spin off GE Power, which has major manufacturing operations in Schenectady, and GE Healthcare, which has a small factory in Rensselaer County.

The move would leave GE Aviation as the sole business of the once-huge conglomerate.

The announcement called it a defining moment for GE, and it would be the final stage in the long-running effort to winnow down what once was a vast conglomerate.

General Electric was born in Schenectady in 1892 and later grew to include businesses that focused on everything from locomotives to light bulbs to oil and gas.

More recently, amid major financial troubles, GE has worked to narrow itself on three core business lines: Healthcare, Aviation and Power. Scores of facilities have closed or sold and tens of thousands of employees removed from the payroll along the way.

In the Capital Region, General Electric has a turbine and generator factor at the foot of Erie Boulevard on the Schenectady/Rotterdam border; the headquarters of its research arm in Niskayuna; and a relatively small production facility for medical imaging equipment in North Greenbush.

The Schenectady campus also has a large contingent of GE wind power employees.

Numerous other facilities within a few dozen miles of Schenectady where thousands of people once worked on other products have all been sold off or closed over the decades.

The split would create three companies: Aviation, Healthcare and a combination of Power, Renewable Energy and Digital.

GE Power, formerly based in Schenectady, would be spun off in early 2024.

GE Healthcare would be spun off in early 2023.

GE Aviation, the least-electric of the three — and before COVID the company's most profitable business — would retain the "General Electric" name.