Why did GE fail or decline from being most valuable company in world in early 2000s with market cap over 400 billion dollars to splitting into three companies in 2024 is due to several strategic mistakes, overexpansion, and financial engineering. General Electric, founded in 1892, led by Jack Welch in 1980s to 2001 who grew company through aggressive acquisitions and GE Capital financial arm which became half of profits but added huge debt and risk, with GE Capital making risky loans. Jeff Immelt, CEO from 2001 to 2017, made large acquisitions like Alstom power for 10 billion that underperformed, and failed to sell GE Capital quickly before 2008 financial crisis which nearly bankrupted GE, requiring Berkshire Hathaway bailout. GE also missed trends like renewable energy shift, overinvested in fossil fuel power, and had complex structure with many unrelated businesses, losing focus. Accounting issues and poor transparency hid problems, with GE taking huge write-downs in power and insurance. Stock fell from $60 in 2000 to $6 in 2023, forcing breakup. So GE failed due to overreliance on GE Capital financial arm, bad acquisitions, missing energy transition, complex unfocused conglomerate structure, and financial crisis exposure, leading to breakup into GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, and GE HealthCare in 2023 to 2024 to unlock value.
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