| Date |
Event |
| 1876 |
Thomas Edison opens a new laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, USA |
| 1879 |
Thomson-Houston formed |
| 1890 |
Edison General Electric formed |
| 1892 |
Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston merge to become The General Electric Company |
| 1892 |
Charles A. Coffin becomes the first President of General Electric |
| 1893 |
Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston, a sister company to General Electric which would become Thomson, formed in Paris |
| 1896 |
General Electric made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average |
| 1905 |
The Electric Bond and Share Co., the forerunner of GE Commercial Finance is formed, with the goal of providing financing to small utility companies[1] |
| 1911 |
National Electric Lamp Company (NELA) is absorbed into General Electric's existing lighting business and GE establishes its lighting division headquarters at Nela Park, the world's first industrial park, in East Cleveland, Ohio |
| 1912 |
General Electric begins using phenolic resins to mold plastic parts[1] |
| 1913 |
Charles A. Coffin becomes the first Chairman of General Electric |
| 1913 |
Edwin Rice becomes President, replacing Charles A. Coffin |
| 1919 |
Radio Corporation of America (RCA) formed by General Electric and American Telephone & Telegraph |
| 1922 |
Owen Young becomes Chairman, replacing Charles A. Coffin |
| 1930 |
General Electric creates its Plastics Department to research and produce advanced plastics[1] |
| 1932 |
GE Credit Corporation, which evolves into GE Consumer Finance, is founded to allow families to purchase General Electric appliances on credit[1] |
| 1935 |
General Electric markets the first electric garbage disposal, the Disposall[1] |
| 1940 |
Philip D. Reed replaces Owen Young as Chairman |
| 1942 |
Owen Young returns as Chairman, replacing Philip D. Reed |
| 1942 |
General Electric develops the first American jet engine |
| 1945 |
Philip D. Reed becomes Chairman, replacing Owen Young |
| 1949 |
GE Armament Division test-fires the M61 Vulcan rotary cannon |
| Date |
Event |
| 1952 |
General Electric acquires Ken-Rad Tube Manufacturing Corporation, headquartered in Owensboro, Kentucky and designates the Ken-Rad's plants located in Owensboro and Bowling Green, Kentucky, Tell City and Huntingburg, Indiana as its primary vacuum tube manufacturing facilities |
| 1953 |
Lexan accidentally developed by a GE Plastics scientist while searching for a new wire coating[1] |
| 1955 |
GE Research Laboratory announces the ability to create the first artificial diamonds, primarily for industrial use[1] |
| 1958 |
Ralph J. Cordiner becomes Chairman & CEO, replacing Phillip D. Reed |
| 1962 |
General Electric scientist Bob Hall invents the solid state laser[1] |
| 1963 |
Gerald L. Phillippe becomes Chairman, replacing Ralph J. Cordiner |
| 1964 |
General Electric sponsors Carousel of Progress at the 1964 New York World's Fair and continues sponsorship after it is moved to Disneyland from 1967 to 1973, then to Magic Kingdom (1975–1985) |
| 1967 |
Fred J. Borch becomes Chairman & CEO, replacing Gerald L. Phillippe |
| 1970 |
Computer systems division sold to Honeywell |
| 1971 |
CFM International is formed with partner SNECMA for the purpose of producing medium-sized civil turbofan[1] |
| 1972 |
Reginald Jones becomes Chairman and CEO, replacing Fred J. Borch |
| 1981 |
Jack Welch whose management style would leave a lasting effect upon General Electric and Corporate America, replaces Reginald Jones as CEO |
| 1982 |
CFM International's CFM56 is introduced; The CFM56 would go on to dominate the engine market for short haul airliner[1] |
| 1983 |
General Electric begins sponsoring Horizons at EPCOT Center which ends in 1993 |
| 1984 |
GE spins off its commercial computer graphics products and services Genigraphics Operation to the Genigraphics Corporation |
| 1985 |
GEnie, one of the pioneering online services, was developed using extra processor cycles on General Electric Information Services mainframes |
| 1986 |
General Electric re-acquires RCA, primarily for the NBC television network and sells the remaining components to Thomson—along with General Electric's consumer electronics division— and Bertelsmann |
| 1988 |
General Electric begins sponsorship of IllumiNations, a series of fireworks displays, at EPCOT Center which continues until 1998 |
| 1989 |
The Consumer News and Business Channel, or CNBC, is formed to provide business news to cable television subscribers[1] |
| 1993 |
GE Aerospace Division sold to Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin |
| 1996 |
MSNBC is formed with partner Microsoft, to compete with the Cable News Network[1] |
| 1996 |
GEnie is sold to Yovelle, now part of IDT Corp. |
| 1996 |
General Electric sponsors the Main Street Electrical Parade for the farewell season at Disneyland |
| 1999 |
Harkening back to the Easy-Bake Oven, General Electric introduces the Advantium oven, which uses halogen lights to cook food[1] |
| 1999 |
Montgomery Ward exits Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and becomes a subsidiary of GE Capital, a major creditor |
| Date |
Event |
| 2000 |
Montgomery Ward folded by GE Capital due to declining sales |
| 2001 |
General Electric and Honeywell agree to merge, however it is blocked by European Union M&A chief Mario Monti |
| 2001 |
Jeffrey Immelt becomes CEO, replacing Jack Welch |
| 2001 |
NBC acquires Telemundo, one of the leading Spanish language television networks |
| 2003 |
GE Healthcare acquires Instrumentarium |
| 2003 |
GE Capital acquires Transamerica Finance from AEGON, who retained the rest of Transamerica Corporation |
| 2004 |
NBC acquires the entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal, excluding Universal Music and forms NBC Universal, of which General Electric owns 80% |
| 2004 |
GE Healthcare acquires Amersham plc |
| 2004 |
GE Capital acquires Dillard's credit card unit for US$1.25 billion |
| 2004 |
GE sells 60% stake in GE Capital International Services (GECIS) to private equity companies, Oak Hill Capital Partners and General Atlantic, for $500 million |
| 2004 |
Genworth Financial formed from General Electric's life and mortgage insurance assets |
| 2004 |
GE Security acquires InVision Technologies, a leading manufacturer of airport security equipment. On July 1, 2009, the European Union approves the sale of 81 percent of GE's airport security and biometrics division to French company Safran[2] |
| 2005 |
GE Commercial Finance acquires the financial assets of Bombardier, a Canadian aircraft manufacturer for US$1.4 billion[3] |
| 2006 |
GE Healthcare acquires IDX Systems, a medical software firm, for US$1.2 billion |
| 2006 |
GE Advanced Materials division is sold to Apollo Management for US$3.8 billion |
| 2006 |
GE Water & Process Technologies acquires Zenon Environmental Systems for $758 million |
| 2007 |
GE Consumer & Industrial acquires Microwave Data Systems for US$600 million |
| 2007 |
GE-Aviation acquires Smiths Aerospace for £2.4 billion |
| 2007 |
GE Oil & Gas acquires Vetco Gray for US$1.9 billion |
| 2007 |
GE Plastics is sold to SABIC for US$11.7 billion |
| 2008 |
GE Co. acquires Vital Signs Inc. for US$860 million[4] |
| 2009 |
GE buys Vivendi's stake in NBC Universal and sell a controllng interest of the company to Comcast, with GE retaining a 49 percent interest in the joint venture[5] |
| 2010 |
GE enters negoitiations with Comcast Corpoartion to sell the NBC/Universal unit; Clearance by the FCC and US Attorney General are required |
| 2011 |
GE completes sale of NBC Universal with Comcast. GE still owns 48% of The Venture |