Slashdot Mirror
GE Cuts 12,000 Jobs In Response To Falling Demand For Fossil Fuel Energy (qz.com)
In response to the drop in demand for fossil fuel energy, General Electric -- the world's largest maker of gas turbines -- announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs. Quartz reports: Those cuts will mostly come from GE's power division, which makes energy-generation technologies. The reduction will account for 18% of the division's workforce and affect both professional and production employees, the company said in a statement. The majority of job losses will occur outside the U.S., Bloomberg reports. In a statement, Russell Stokes, the division's president and CEO, said disruptions to the power market were "driving significantly lower volumes in products and services." Demand for GE's power-generation equipment has stalled in part because of renewable energy growth, says Robert McCarthy, an analyst at Stifel Financial.
The move is part of a larger restructuring effort under GE's new chief executive John Flannery, who has faced immense pressure to regain the company's footing since taking the helm in June of this year. GE's stock price plunged 44% this year, the worst performer on the Dow, according to Bloomberg. The company aims to cut $3.5 billion of expenses across its divisions by the end of 2018, including a $1 billion cut from the power division.
The move is part of a larger restructuring effort under GE's new chief executive John Flannery, who has faced immense pressure to regain the company's footing since taking the helm in June of this year. GE's stock price plunged 44% this year, the worst performer on the Dow, according to Bloomberg. The company aims to cut $3.5 billion of expenses across its divisions by the end of 2018, including a $1 billion cut from the power division.
That would be a nice indication of progress of our society.
However, this might the "public" explanation which looks good in media.
I can think of two other reasons, which are less flattering for GE; 1) GE fails to be competitive for this type of equipment (for various reasons), or 2) the market for gas turbines shrinks, maybe due to the very high operational costs of gas turbines (they are very expensive to run, for at least electric power generation)
Probably true, but gas turbines can be useful even in green energy sector, so don't count them out yet.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Maybe they can all find work in companies working in the renewable energy sector? Like this one: https://www.gerenewableenergy....
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
I doubt GE is thinking like that. GE tends to live in these bubbles, where stresses and problems in the market don't show up to them until the last minute, then they need to do dramatic changes. Being GE wants to be #1 or #2 in the market if not they will sell and close off the unit, the people working in stressed units will manipulate as much data to show how they are #1 or #2 until it is obvious there is a problem, and fixes earlier on do not happen.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.