General Electric Co. as the world has known it for decades will soon cease to exist. What happens to its iconic monogram logo is another question.
Larry Culp, the conglomerate’s chief executive officer, on Tuesday announced he would break the company up over the next three years into independent businesses focused on health care, aviation and the transformation of the power sector. It hasn’t yet decided which will carry on with the company’s GE logo, which Culp said was recently valued at $20 billion.
“Everybody wants to make sure they hang onto their part of the brand,” Culp said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin.”
“It means a tremendous amount in each one of these markets,” Culp said. “We don’t have a definitive brand plan today. We’ll work through that as we’ll work through other questions in the months to come, but rest assured, every business will share the GE heritage.”
Read more: GE will split into three units, ending conglomerate
GE’s logo has graced everything from light bulbs and refrigerators to medical scanners and jet engines -- even the jerseys of the NBA’s Boston Celtics basketball team. While GE sold its century-old home appliances business to Haier Smart Home Co. in 2016, the monogram lives on in consumers’ kitchens thanks to a pact letting Haier use the logo for 40 years.
Well-known corporate logos have long been a valuable asset, one that companies have sometimes sought to lean on when facing trouble. Ford Motor Co. pledged its blue-oval logo and all its assets as collateral for a $23.4 billion loan in 2006. The lifeline enabled the company to avoid the 2009 bankruptcies and bailouts that befell its crosstown rivals, General Motors Co. and Chrysler, now part of Stellantis NV.
Ford regained control of its logo in 2012 when the ratings companies returned the automaker to investment grade. Executive Chair Bill Ford, great-grandson of founder Henry, said recovering control of his family name was “one of the best days I can remember.” He added: “We weren’t just pledging an asset, we were pledging our heritage.”
For Culp, other decisions about the separated companies also remain. While GE’s corporate offices will remain in Boston, it hasn’t yet been determined where the independent health care, energy and aviation businesses will be based, Culp said.
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