General Electric Co said Thursday that it plans to spin off its entire consumer and industrial group to shareholders, as CEO Jeffrey Immelt strives to raise declining stock prices, dpa reported.
Two months back, the Fairfield, Connecticut-based conglomerate placed its century-old appliance unit on the block. Thursday's announcement means GE may exit from other units such as electrical switches and the light-bulb business.
The consumer and industrial unit is part of a larger group called GE Industrial, one of six major segments that will continue after the spinoff. The others are NBC Universal, GE Money, GE Infrastructure, GE Commercial Finance and GE Healthcare, Bloomberg financial news agency reported.
"It became clear that the fastest, most efficient step we could take in completing the transformation of our industrial portfolio would be to focus on a possible spinoff of the entire unit," Immelt said in a statement Thursday.
"This is consistent with the strategy we have been executing to transform the GE portfolio for long-term growth and makes sense for GE shareholders."