General Electric

GENERAL ELECTRIC General Electric is a company who strives to put their best foot forward. For more then 120 years, General Electric has been number one in the products they sell. From airplane engines to light bulbs, their attitude has been admired not only in America, but worldwide. GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. After all GE has accomplished, including revenues of 152.4 billion dollars in 2004, the company still maintains a healthy relationships with its customers. In 1876, Thomas Edison opened a laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey. In that lab one of the greatest inventions of all surfaced, the light bulb. That one business however was not enough for Edison. In 1890, Edison organized various businesses into the Edison General Electric Company. In 1879, Elihu Thomson and E.J. Houston formed a competitive company, Thomson-Houston Company. This company also merged with various companies to keep up with Thomas Edison 's company. It was then ran by Charles A. Coffin, a former shoe manufacturer from Massachusetts. When these two companies began to expand, it became increasingly difficult for either to produce complete electrical products. In 1892, these two companies merged with the help of JP Morgan, a financial company. When these companies merged, it became known as "General Electric Company". After the merger, the company moved its headquarters to Schenectady, New York. In 1896, GE was one of the original 12 companies to be listed on the newly formed Dow Jones. Today, it is the only original company to be listed. In 1919, GE founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T). Through the 1960 's, GE was one of the eight major companies (with IBM being the largest and UNIVAC being the smallest). GE also had an extensive line of computers ranging from general purpose to special purpose computers. It was said GE got into the