Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of GE, dies at 84

[lostnfound]

Source: CNBC

KEY POINTS
Jack Welch was a railroad conductor's son who rose to chairman and CEO of General Electric.
During the 20 years he led the conglomerate, its market value grew from $12 billion to $410 billion.
Fortune magazine once called him "manager of the century," but he also was known as "Neutron Jack" for slashing tens of thousands of jobs.

Jack Welch, a railroad conductor's son who became chairman and CEO of General Electric and led it for two decades, growing its market value from $12 billion to $410 billion, has died. He was 84.

Welch died late Sunday at home, surrounded by his wife, Suzy, and family, and his beloved dogs nearby. The cause of death was renal failure, after a long fight, his wife said Monday.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/03/02/jack-welch-obit-ge.html

[mobeau69]

1. Thoughts and prayers

[lostnfound]

2. Knowing many people who worked at the company then

I would say he was feared but respected as a leader.
Before everyone here piles on about Neutron Jack, I would like to say that the positive side of what he did with GE was
1) create a very very diverse company where women and minorities are coached and given real opportunities to take positions of power and responsibility. Massive diversity champion.
2) created a culture of excellence in engineering that benefitted customers and anyone who trusts their life to an airplane.
3) invested in training

Condolences to his family.

(Now DU you can pile on....)

[Maxheader]

3. Rip..

though I blame big corp execs like him for hobbling the economy when obama was prez..imho..

[Submariner]

4. This guy would hammer President Obama's job reports numbers

always accusing Obama of lying during the recession recovery.

Chris Matthews was under Welch's wing, and he helped Welch fire the only Liberal on cable TV at the time, Phil Donahue.

GE, part of the vast military industrial complex, should never have owned and operated it's own TV news network. He left his mark on right wing news. Welch is the reason Dick 5 deferment Cheney loved going on Tim Russert's Meet the Republicans show because Cheney said I can "control" the news show.

He won't be missed.

[Dopers_Greed]

5. When you have nothing nice to say

[Raine]

20. Exactly nt

[Javaman]

7. he was anti-union. fuck him. nt

[UpInArms]

8. Ruby red shoes 👠 Coming out of the closet

And I shall dance, as one more evil f**ker leaves the planet

With a determination to win by busting up bureaucratic complacency, Welch earned two titles — "manager of the century," and "Neutron Jack" for slashing tens of thousands of jobs. Under his leadership, GE became the world's most valuable company, after Microsoft. Its fortunes later turned south.

While at the helm, Welch bought and sold scores of businesses, expanding the industrial giant into financial services and consulting. GE Capital Bank was founded seven years into his tenure. His acquisitions included RCA — then-owner of NBC — and Kidder Peabody, the brokerage that became entangled in an insider trading scandal.

Welch not only became a vocal supporter of Bush, he also decided that the news division of NBC would to put aside its journalistic integrity and instead look out for the corporate interests of GE and do everything in its powers to elect Bush. According to a report by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) cited in the Los Angeles Times, come election time, November 7, 2000, Welch had access to raw election data that were not available to his own newsmen at NBC and appeared to play a key role in getting NBC to call Florida, and with it, the national election, for George W. Bush at almost the same time, John Ellis—George W. Bush's cousin and Fox News' senior decision desk official—made the call for Fox.

[Mickju]

10. This is what I remember about him.

He is responsible for dubya becoming president after NBC had called the election for Gore.

[Botany]

9. Well he is dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution_of_the_Hudson_River

[dalton99a]

11. +1

[Botany]

12. Welch fought the Hudson River clean up for years

GE was bringing in record profits at the time and he was a billionaire too. God only
knows how many people got sick from eating fish from the Hudson River thanx to
Peter Welch.

I think Obama tried to get him on board to help the nation's economy and Welch
rebuffed him because he wanted people to suffer so they would vote against him
2012. A Mitch McConnell type of thing make the people hurt because they made a
black man President.

I know he did some good things in his life but he had a down side too.

[SpankMe]

13. I'm sure someone loved him. n/t

[malchickiwick]

14. At times like this I often find myself thinking, "Too bad hell is not a real place ..."

[House of Roberts]

15. Jack Welch should burn in hell, as a traitor to the nation.

https://theweek.com/articles/486362/where-americas-jobs-went

When did offshoring become so prevalent?
The trend began in earnest in the late 1970s at large manufacturers such as General Electric. GE’s then CEO, Jack Welch, who was widely respected by other corporate chieftains, argued that public corporations owe their primary allegiance to stockholders, not employees. Therefore, Welch said, companies should seek to lower costs and maximize profits by moving operations wherever is cheapest. “Ideally,” Welch said, “you’d have every plant you own on a barge to move with currencies and changes in the economy.” Not only did GE offshore much of its manufacturing, so did its parts suppliers, which were instructed at GE-orchestrated “supplier migration seminars” to “migrate or be out of business.”

[LiberalFighter]

16. Who should I sympathize?

[Initech]

17. Will he be frozen in carbonite or not?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

18. They say you should always speak good of the dead

Jack Welch is dead.

Good.

[liberaltrucker]

19. Satan can retire now. His replacement has arrived

nt

[Jimbo S]

21. As someone once in his suplly-chain

Visiting one of GE's plants we noticed not too many office professional types over age 50.

[jrandom421]

22. Good Riddence,Neutron Jack!

Through your actions, you slashed and burned General Electric, ruthlessly shredding the lives of so many friends and families. I'll never forgive you for the devastation you wrought on so many communities who proudly stood by the hard work they poured into the General Electric name.