How Big is General Electric?

What many people do not know about General Electric (GE) is that it was originally founded by Thomas Edison in 1890, before merging with a rival company. GE was one of the original 12 companies listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Today, GE employs over 300,000 people, and has offices in over 100 countries across almost every continent.

Most people associate GE with appliances, but they are also involved in many other industries, such as water, energy, and healthcare. While the manufacturing industry in the United States has been on a steady decline overall, GE created 6,300 manufacturing jobs in the US between 2008 and 2010.

GE has been able to grow to become the 2nd largest company in the US (by market cap) by anticipating what the future would hold. And now they can see that energy conservation is a big part of that. GE technology is being used to power Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates, which will be the world's first zero-emission, carbon-neutral city, with phase one of the project scheduled to be completed by 2015.

GE also knows that as a large company, giving back to the community is important. Their philanthropy philosophy has resulted in $250 million being given back to community and educational organizations in 2010. GE has volunteer councils in over 47 countries across the world.

Getting to know the companies your nation was founded on is a great lesson in historical commerce, and in understanding how those companies operate today!