General Electric Shares Pop As Company Sells its Consumer Lighting Business

Shares of General Electric were rising on Wednesday after Wall Street learned that the company is selling its iconic lighting unit to smart home company Savant Systems.

The company is selling the almost 130-year old consumer lighting business as it wants to focus on its industrial offerings now.

Terms of the sale weren’t disclosed.

“Today’s transaction is another important step in the transformation of GE into a more focused industrial company,” GE CEO Larry Culp stated.

“Our GE Lighting colleagues will join a fast-growing leader in home automation that shares their passion for bringing the future to light. … At GE, we will continue to advance the infrastructure technologies that are core to our company,” Culp added.

The transaction is expected to close in the middle of the year. The lighting business will remain headquartered in Cleveland, and its more than 700 workers will transfer to Savant.

It was in April that the company had reported worse than expected earnings for the first quarter and had given a warning that its second quarter results would decline even more due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Adjusted earnings totaled 5 cents a share in the latest quarter, a drop of 64.3% from the same period last year and 3 cents below the Wall Street consensus forecast. Revenue fell 8% to $20.5 billion.

Disclaimer: We have no position in General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and have not been compensated for this article.