It's hard for CNN:GE to get rid of the lighting business

Recently, the American media CNN has made a brief analysis of the General Electric's plight to get rid of its lighting business. The following is the translation, which is abridge:

GeneralElectric has been linked to the bulb for the past 126 years. It's hard for GE to get rid of it now.

General Electric is cash - strapped. It has been about a year since it announced plans to sell lighting and focus on such businesses as jet engines and magnetic resonance imaging devices.

At present, GE has not found a buyer for lighting business. The company's chief executive, John Flannery, told analysts at a conference last month that GE was "actively discussing" with potential buyers.

But the specific agreement has not been reached. This week, GE refused to provide the CNNMoney for its sales of lighting.

The difficulty of GE's sale of lighting business highlights the bleak prospect of its lighting business.

Last year, GE's lighting sales fell 59% to less than $2 billion (about $12 billion 780 million). Although lighting has always defined GE, it is the smallest Department of the company today, accounting for less than 2% of its annual income of $122 billion. GE decided to shift the focus to three core areas: health care, electricity and aviation.

For GE, the decline in lighting business is not an example. This is a common problem in the industry, as low prices and the popularity of LED lights for decades have restricted the demand for substitution.

Another problem is that, unlike other GE products, the bulbs are now very mediocre. The distinction between one bulb and the other is almost not obvious.

"It's becoming more commercialized, it's not a technology oriented business," said Gautam Khanna, an analyst at Cowen.

Previously, GE also considered selling its 100 year history of the railway business.

Limiting its bills to the United States makes general electric trading complex. For example, railway transactions are duty-free, but the deal is complex for several years and involves cash, stock and derivatives. It also takes a long time to sell lighting.

Another problem: if the sale of lighting is similar to that of railway transactions, Ge may still be in the high debt of the company.

A person familiar with the matter told CNNMoney that even if Ge sells railway operations, the health responsibility of American pensions and retirees will not be transferred to a new company, which is not enough to ease its debt worries.

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