GE’s Triple Threat Breakup

General Electric‘s removal from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in June 2018 marked a dramatic conclusion to an original participant’s multi-decade decline. Since GE was sidelined from the exclusive index, a lot has happened — but a lot more is still left to be accomplished to undo decades of mishaps. 

The company’s new CEO, Larry Culp, hopes to right the wrongs of GE’s past, present, and future. However, its wrongs have turned into a mountain of debt. GE has been selling assets to cover it, but Culp and company have a new pitch for investors: splitting up GE.

The one-time industrial giant will be broken up into three companies: one for aviation, another for healthcare, and the final for its power business. ✈️  ⚕️ ⚡ The three companies will be separate, publicly-traded companies. According to Culp, “this is the best way to fully realize the potential of these businesses.”

The changes will take time, though. GE Healthcare, which makes MRIs and hospital equipment, will spin off in 2023. The unit did $17 billion in revenue in 2020. In 2024, it will spin off its power & renewable energy unit — that includes all of its turbines for power plants, wind farms, and other stuff along those lines. That unit did an even more impressive $33 billion in revenue in 2020.

What’s left behind under the original ticker will be a very different $GE than the diversified disaster that exists today. GE will focus on aviation, namely making and servicing jet engines. That business did $22 billion in revenue in 2020, despite the pandemic.

$GE rose 2.7% on the news today, an indication that investors are liking the reorganization. 👍

What’s With All The Accounting Issues?

Accounting is the practice of using numbers to tell the story of a company’s past, present, and future. For an investor, these numbers and stories are the foundation of all decisions, so it’s imperative that they’re done correctly. And generally, they are.

But lately, there’s been an uptick in the number of accounting mishaps making their way into the financial markets. Today we got a few more instances of this problem, so let’s take a look. 📝

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Investors Are Losing Trust

It’s been a rough eighteen months or so for real estate investment trusts (REITs), with higher interest rates giving investors alternative sources of yield and pressuring commercial real estate’s asset values. Unfortunately for Medical Properties Trust (MPT), that pain continues today, with its shares falling back to their Great-Financial-Crisis lows. 😬

The medical-related real estate property operator revealed to investors that one of its tenants, Steward Health Care System, is roughly $50 million behind in rent payments. As a result, MPT will take a $225 million noncash charge to write off rent receivables and other items. 

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Boeing Loses Altitude (Again)

If you’re an investor in airlines or airplane manufacturers, this is not the type of headline you want to wake up to. Unfortunately for Boeing and several others, the news is not great. So let’s dig into it. 👇

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Epic Wins A “Victory Royale” Against Google

It’s been three years since Fornite-maker Epic Games sued Apple and Google for allegedly running illegal app store monopolies. And despite losing a similar battle against Apple, the game-maker has secured a win against Google. 🏆

The jury in Epic v. Google delivered its unanimous decision after just a few hours of deliberation. They found a few key things:

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