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General Electric (GE) is to divide itself into three firms after years of underperforming on the stockmarket, says Jesse Pound on CNBC. The shares have gained 55% over the last 12 months, but have fallen by 2% a year since 2009. The industrial giant will be divided into units focused on aviation, healthcare and energy. It intends to spin off its healthcare unit by 2023 and the energy unit by early 2024. GE’s shares jumped by 6% after the announcement. “Specific naming decisions” have yet to be made, but it is understood the current GE will be the aviation-focused company. The plan “looks like common sense, belatedly applied”, says John Foley on Breakingviews. The “sprawling” conglomerate could be worth more broken up. The aviation business could generate $6bn of operating profit by 2023, according to GE’s own targets. If valued at the same 20-times multiple as rivals Honeywell and Safran, it’s worth $120bn. If its healthcare business made the assumed $3.5bn in operating profit it could be worth
