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118-652: During World War One the United States government assumed control of the radio industry. After the war government officials balked at returning the American Marconi stations to the original owners, distrusting British control of radio communication due to national security concerns. Led by the U.S. Navy, the government pressured the Marconi companies to transfer American Marconi to a U.S. owner. The American Marconi assets were purchased by General Electric in 1919, which provided

236-533: A $ 3 billion deal and also bought a $ 1.6 billion portfolio of retail credit cards from Citigroup Inc. On October 14, 2010, GE announced the acquisition of data migration & SCADA simulation specialists Opal Software. In December 2010, for the second time that year (after the Dresser acquisition), GE bought the oil sector company Wellstream , an oil pipe maker, for 800 million pounds ($ 1.3 billion). In March 2011, GE announced that it had completed

354-561: A Ponzi Scheme run by Bernard Madoff , accused General Electric of being a "bigger fraud than Enron," alleging $ 38 billion in accounting fraud. GE denied wrongdoing. On October 6, 2020, General Electric reported it received a Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission stating the SEC may take civil action for possible violations of securities laws. United Wireless Telegraph Company The United Wireless Telegraph Company

472-403: A belligerent, on August 5, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson issued an executive order imposing monitoring and censorship of their transmissions. In contrast to the immediate compliance by the other companies, American Marconi unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the legality of the order in the courts. While this was taking place, the U.S. Navy became concerned that a September 2 message relayed by

590-526: A controlling interest in the company, while GE would retain a 49% stake and would buy out shares owned by Vivendi. Vivendi would sell its 20% stake in NBCUniversal to GE for US$ 5.8 billion. Vivendi would sell 7.66% of NBCUniversal to GE for US$ 2 billion if the GE/Comcast deal was not completed by September 2010 and then sell the remaining 12.34% stake of NBCUniversal to GE for US$ 3.8 billion when

708-577: A division of GE called GE Information Systems (GEIS). The new company, named GXS , is based in Gaithersburg, Maryland . GXS is a provider of business-to-business e-commerce solutions. GE maintains a minority stake in GXS. Also in 2002, GE Wind Energy was formed when GE bought the wind turbine manufacturing assets of Enron Wind after the Enron scandals . In 2004, GE bought 80% of Vivendi Universal Entertainment,

826-565: A few years later with Thomson-Houston Electric Company , led by Charles Coffin . In 1887, Hart left to become superintendent of the Edison Electric Company. General Electric was formed through the 1892 merger of Edison General Electric Company and Thomson-Houston Electric Company with the support of Drexel, Morgan & Co. The original plants of both companies continue to operate under the GE banner to this day. The General Electric business

944-606: A good enough reputation so that he was employed by American Marconi when that company took over United Wireless. However, a more common opinion about the company appeared in the December 1907 issue of World's Work magazine: "The very word 'wireless' brings a smile to the lips of the Wall Street man... The time may come when the wireless will become suitable for consideration by investors. It will not come until some strong, clean, honest financial interests take charge and utterly eliminate

1062-507: A joint venture in steam turbines, plus a €3.1 billion cash investment. In June 2014, a formal offer from GE worth $ 17 billion was agreed by the Alstom board. Part of the transaction involved the French government taking a 20% stake in Alstom to help secure France's energy and transport interests and French jobs. A rival offer from Siemens Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was rejected. The acquisition

1180-541: A lamp manufacturer in East Newark, New Jersey ; Edison Machine Works , a manufacturer of dynamos and large electric motors in Schenectady, New York ; Bergmann & Company, a manufacturer of electric lighting fixtures , sockets , and other electric lighting devices; and Edison Electric Light Company, the patent -holding company and financial arm for Edison's lighting experiments, backed by J. P. Morgan (1837–1913) and

1298-404: A leading role in the U.S., and in his review of radio industry legal disputes, W. Rupert MacLaurin noted that "The position of American Marconi was such that the threat of suit was often sufficient to cause an infringing firm to halt its operations." MacLaurin found a total of ten patent infringement cases involving American Marconi which had entered the court system. In eight instances the company

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1416-525: A maneuver that, not coincidentally, blocked American DeForest's creditors, most prominently Reginald Fessenden , from collecting on their legal judgments. United's head office was located at the old American DeForest headquarters at 42 Broadway, in New York City, and the company continued publication of the house organ The Aerogram . American DeForest stockholders were offered the chance to exchange their now essentially worthless holdings for United stock, in

1534-458: A non-infringing carborundum detector, which made the services of de Forest appear to be unneeded. The new company had a tumultuous start. In addition to the Marconi rebuff, in February 1907, just two months after its founding, control of the company was quietly obtained by a group of self-proclaimed "reformers." The effort was led by stock promoter Colonel Christopher Columbus Wilson, the president of

1652-517: A roster of subsidiary companies was established, holding regional rights to the Marconi patents. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America was incorporated in New Jersey on November 8, 1899 as the first subsidiary company. It was granted the "sole right to use and exploit the Marconi patents in the United States of America, the Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, Cuba, Porto Rico, Alaska and

1770-420: A series of complicated and confusing financial transactions that were generally to the advantage of company insiders at the expense of regular shareholders. One unusual feature of the stock transfer offers was that the number of shares to be received was based on the amount of money originally paid for the stock, and not on the number of shares held. This was designed to penalize persons who purchased their stock on

1888-545: A share, par value. In February 1907 the capitalization was increased to 2,000,000 shares at the par value, divided between 1,000,000 preferred and 1,000,000 common shares. Beginning in 1902, White, promoting the work of inventor Lee de Forest , had headed a series of radio companies with dubious reputations, culminating in the American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company. As part of the reorganization, United leased American DeForest's assets for $ 1,

2006-567: A test case, claiming that the Navy could not legally grant immunity to infringing firms, and in September 1915 the company sought a court injunction against Emil J. Simon. American Marconi lost in the lower courts, but the case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which on March 4, 1918 ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. However, the victory would be short-lived, because on July 1, 1918 legislation passed by

2124-803: A three-element vacuum tube, that he named the Audion , and which he maintained had been developed separately from the Fleming's work. Over the next few years de Forest's device would be improved until it could be used for high quality reception and amplification, as well as for radio transmitters. American Marconi sued de Forest for infringing the original Fleming patent. The U.S. courts eventually ruled that both Fleming's and de Forest's patents were valid, which led to an impasse, as it meant neither could legally manufacture three-element vacuum tubes. This legal entanglement would eventually be inherited by RCA as American Marconi's successor. A controversial Navy policy during this time

2242-457: Is antagonistic and repugnant to the interests of both of the Marconi companies". However, United Wireless would continue to be the primary radio communications firm in the United States until its eventual collapse. United's longstanding stock fraud activities began to unravel in the summer of 1910, when the company's principal officers were arrested by Post Office inspectors and charged with mail fraud. The crippled firm attempted to reorganize, but

2360-513: Is one of GE's four multifunctional shared services centers worldwide in Pudong , China; Budapest , Hungary; and Monterrey , Mexico. In April 2015, GE announced its intention to sell off its property portfolio, worth $ 26.5 billion, to Wells Fargo and The Blackstone Group . It was announced in April 2015 that GE would sell most of its finance unit and return around $ 90 billion to shareholders as

2478-559: The DATANET-30 and Datanet 355 message switching computers (DATANET-30 and 355 were also used as front end processors for GE mainframe computers). A Datanet 500 computer was designed but never sold. In 1956 Homer Oldfield had been promoted to General Manager of GE's Computer Department. He facilitated the invention and construction of the Bank of America ERMA system, the first computerized system designed to read magnetized numbers on checks. But he

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2596-497: The Multics operating system on the GE 645 mainframe computer. The project took longer than expected and was not a major commercial success, but it demonstrated concepts such as single-level storage , dynamic linking , hierarchical file system , and ring-oriented security . Active development of Multics continued until 1985. GE got into computer manufacturing because, in the 1950s, they were

2714-566: The NBC television network for $ 6.28 billion; this merger surpassed the Capital Cities/ABC merger from earlier that year as the largest non-oil company merger in world business history. The remainder of RCA's divisions and assets were sold to various companies, including Bertelsmann Music Group which acquired RCA Records . Thomson SA , which licensed the manufacture of RCA and GE branded electronics, traced its roots to Thomson-Houston, one of

2832-543: The National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which built two radio broadcasting networks. In 1930, General Electric was charged with antitrust violations and was ordered to divest itself of RCA. In 1927, Ernst Alexanderson of GE made the first demonstration of television broadcast reception at his General Electric Realty Plot home at 1132 Adams Road in Schenectady, New York. On January 13, 1928, he made what

2950-769: The Preliminary Conference on Wireless Telegraphy held in Berlin in 1903. In the United States, the Wireless Ship Act of 1910 , which required that most passenger vessels plying U.S. ports carry radio equipment, also specified that they had to be willing to communicate "with shore or ship stations using other systems of radio-communication". The Radio Act of 1912 instituted radio station licensing, and further required that shore stations open to general public service "shall be bound to exchange radiograms with any similar shore station and with any ship station without distinction of

3068-583: The United Wireless Telegraph Company . United concentrated on the domestic market, and built far more land stations and had many more shipboard installations than American Marconi. United's competitive advantage was due to the fact that it provided shipboard equipment and operators at little or no cost. It was able to do this because, instead of trying to make a profit on legitimate operations, both American De Forest and United were organized as stock promotion schemes, designed by management to loot

3186-562: The Vanderbilt family . Henry Villard, a long-time Edison supporter and investor, proposed to consolidate all of business interests. The proposal was supported by Samuel Insull - who served as his secretary and, later, financier - as well other investors. In 1889, Drexel, Morgan & Co. —a company founded by J.P. Morgan and Anthony J. Drexel —financed Edison's research and helped merge several of Edison's separate companies under one corporation, forming Edison General Electric Company, which

3304-626: The transmission of electrical power . In 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average , where it remained a part of the index for 122 years, though not continuously. In 1911, General Electric absorbed the National Electric Lamp Association (NELA) into its lighting business. GE established its lighting division headquarters at Nela Park in East Cleveland, Ohio . The lighting division has since remained in

3422-399: The 9HA. After the break, GE developed new protective coatings and heat treatment methods. Gas turbines represent a significant portion of GE Power's revenue, and also represent a significant portion of the power generation fleet of several utility companies in the United States. Chubu Electric of Japan and Électricité de France also had units that were impacted. Initially, GE did not realize

3540-512: The Aleutian Islands". In the opinion of the Marconi companies, they were the only legitimate radio communication providers, as they asserted that all their competitors provided inferior offerings that infringed on the Marconi patents. Following standard Marconi policy, prior to 1912 American Marconi would not sell equipment, instead leasing it, while supplying operators who were loyal company employees. The most controversial early company policy

3658-409: The American Marconi staff, with former vice president and general manager E. J. Nally becoming RCA's first president. The new company also inherited American Marconi's status as the dominant radio communications firm in the United States. During World War One, the U.S. government promised that after the conflict's conclusion it would compensate patent holders for the use of their patents, and even after

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3776-428: The American Marconi station at Siasconset, Massachusetts might have violated neutrality, but when asked for an explanation company officials refused to cooperate. The Navy finally ordered the station to cease operations at noon on September 25. After a brief final outburst of insolence — upon receiving the order to close, a company employee queried whether federal officials were "prepared to carry out your order by force" —

3894-639: The Denver television station until in 1986, when General Electric bought out RCA and made it into an owned-and-operated station by NBC . It even stayed on until 1995 when it was transferred to a joint venture between CBS and Group W in a swap deal, alongside KUTV in Salt Lake City for longtime CBS O&O in Philadelphia, WCAU-TV . Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license . Led by Sanford Alexander Moss , GE moved into

4012-578: The Federal Telegraph Company, with plans to set up service between the United States and South America. At the American Marconi site in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the Navy had installed a high-powered Alexanderson alternator transmitter built by General Electric (GE). It proved to be superior for transatlantic transmissions to the spark transmitters that had been traditionally used by the Marconi companies. Marconi officials were so impressed by

4130-501: The Interdepartmental Radio Board, with the plaintiffs receiving only about $ 34,000, plus interest. One of the patents for which the Marconi interests had wanted compensation covered Fleming's two-element vacuum tube. However, the Supreme Court ruled that this patent had been improperly issued, and thus was invalid. An even more dramatic setback concerned (among U.S. patent RE11913 and U.S. patent 676,332 in 1901)

4248-534: The International Loan & Banking Company of Denver, Colorado. Wilson, who had previously promoted American DeForest stock, forced White out to become the new company president, with Wilson's nephew, W. A. Diboll installed as company treasurer. Wilson would prove to be no more honest than White. In 1907, the radio industry had been developing for ten years, however, it had consistently lost money, as there had been greater than expected difficulties in perfecting

4366-582: The Marconi company for patent infringement. The case came to court in March 1912 and was quickly won by Marconi when United admitted that it had no defense, resulting in a judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. After a short period of negotiation, United's assets were exchanged for 140,000 shares of British Marconi stock, worth about $ 1.1 million, meaning that the United stockholders received about $ 2 per share for their holdings. United's physical assets were then transferred from

4484-492: The Marconi interests saw this as an opportunity to attack the weakened company by launching a patent infringement suit. United's receivers found that their position was hopeless, and in early 1912 entered into negotiations to have their company, which operated 500 ship and 70 land stations, taken over by American Marconi. The resulting transaction consisted of two parts: British Marconi first purchased all of United Wireless' tangible assets, which in turn on March 29, 1912 were sold by

4602-402: The Navy expanded the acquisition to include these ship stations. With the conclusion of the conflict, Congress turned down the Navy's efforts to have peacetime control of the radio industry, and instructed the Navy to make plans to return the commercial stations it controlled, including the ones it had improperly purchased, to the original owners. However, due to national security considerations,

4720-459: The Navy instead turned to other manufacturers, in particular, the German firm Telefunken. The Navy also contracted with domestic firms to produce equipment according to designs specified by the Navy, and produced additional equipment in its own shops. On the commercial side, American Marconi's primary early competitor was the American DeForest Wireless Telegraph Company, which in late 1906 reorganized as

4838-550: The Navy was particularly concerned about returning the high-powered international stations to American Marconi, since a majority of its stock was in foreign hands, and the British already largely controlled the international undersea cables. This concern was increased by the announcement in late 1918 of the formation of the Pan-American Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company, a joint venture between American Marconi and

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-607: The U.S Congress restored the Navy's ability to shield contracting manufacturers by assuming the legal risks. At the time of the formation of the United Wireless Telegraph Company in late 1906, American DeForest president Abraham White claimed that the new company would be a grand merger between his company and British Marconi plus the Marconi subsidiaries. American Marconi president Griggs quickly and "absolutely and unequivocally" denied White's claim, and further declared that "the scheme of merger announced by Mr. White

5074-524: The U.S. Army Air Corps to select GE to develop the nation's first jet engine during the war. This experience, in turn, made GE a natural selection to develop the Whittle W.1 jet engine that was demonstrated in the United States in 1941. GE was ranked ninth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. However, their early work with Whittle's designs was later handed to Allison Engine Company . GE Aviation then emerged as one of

5192-520: The U.S. and Canada. The exact terms of the sale were not disclosed, but the final price would be based on the value of the assets at closing, plus a premium according to the parties. In October 2015, activist investor Nelson Peltz 's fund Trian bought a $ 2.5 billion stake in the company. In January 2016, Haier acquired GE's appliance division for $ 5.4 billion. In October 2016, GE Renewable Energy agreed to pay €1.5 billion to Doughty Hanson & Co for LM Wind Power during 2017. At

5310-583: The US Navy. General Electric General Electric Company ( GE ) was an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the state of New York and headquartered in Boston . The company had several divisions, including aerospace , energy , healthcare , and finance . In 2020, GE ranked among the Fortune 500 as the 33rd largest firm in the United States by gross revenue . In 2023,

5428-658: The United equipment was efficient enough to provide adequate service for its main clientele of coastwise shipping along the United States, as United, starting with its base along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts, expanded to dominate the Pacific coast and Great Lakes, absorbing a series of smaller firms in the process. Following years of complaints, in June 1910 inspectors from the United States Postal Department moved to shut down what

5546-443: The acquisition of Hydril Pressure & Control in 2008 for $ 1.1 billion. GE Plastics was sold in 2008 to SABIC (Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation). In May 2008, GE announced it was exploring options for divesting the bulk of its consumer and industrial business. On December 3, 2009, it was announced that NBCUniversal would become a joint venture between GE and cable television operator Comcast . Comcast would hold

5664-455: The acquisition of privately held Lineage Power Holdings from The Gores Group . In April 2011, GE announced it had completed its purchase of John Wood plc's Well Support Division for $ 2.8 billion. In 2011, GE Capital sold its $ 2 billion Mexican assets to Santander for $ 162 million and exited the business in Mexico. Santander additionally assumed the portfolio debts of GE Capital in

5782-479: The board's recommendation to immediately pay the suggested compensation amounts, and instead informed the patent holders that they would have to follow the normal procedure of suing for compensation through the Court of Claims. Settling the American Marconi claims would take another 22 years, before finally concluding in 1943 after a review by the Supreme Court. It also resulted in a payment far smaller than that proposed by

5900-467: The capabilities of the Alexanderson alternators that they began making preparations to adopt them as their standard transmitters for international communication. A tentative plan made with General Electric proposed that over a two-year period the Marconi companies would purchase most of GE's alternator production. However, this proposal was met with dismay on national security grounds by the U.S. Navy, which

6018-602: The company announced the formation of the National Amateur Wireless Association (NAWA), an organization oriented towards amateur radio enthusiasts. NAWA's primary objective at its founding was promoting military preparedness. American Marconi also established a publishing house, Wireless Press, Inc. in 1916, and created the Marconi Institute to provide training for commercial operators. Overall American Marconi's patent rights were sufficient to give it

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6136-792: The company expanded into cable with the launch of a franchise, which was awarded to a non-exclusive franchise in Schenectady through subsidiary General Electric Cablevision Corporation. On February 15, 1965, General Electric expanded its holdings in order to acquire more television stations to meet the maximum limit of the FCC, and more cable holdings through subsidiaries General Electric Broadcasting Company and General Electric Cablevision Corporation. The company also owned television stations such as KOA-TV (now KCNC-TV ) in Denver and WSIX-TV (later WNGE-TV, now WKRN ) in Nashville, but like WRGB, General Electric sold off most of its broadcasting holdings, but held on to

6254-402: The company had only five land stations and forty marine installations. John Bottomley, a New York attorney, had primary responsibility for setting up American Marconi, and after a 1902 reorganization served as the new company's general manager, secretary and treasurer. In 1913 Edward J. Nally took over the general manager's post. In 1905, the position of company president was established, which

6372-562: The company more on aviation. After restrictions on air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic caused General Electric's revenue to fall significantly in 2020, GE's final CEO Larry Culp announced in November 2021 that General Electric was to be broken up into three separate, public companies— GE Aerospace , GE HealthCare , and GE Vernova —by 2024. The new companies are respectively focused on aerospace, healthcare, and energy. GE HealthCare's spin-off

6490-423: The company published a monthly magazine named The Marconigraph , which a year later was expanded and renamed The Wireless Age , and in 1912 it also took over United Wireless' The Aerogram magazine, relaunching it as Ocean Wireless News . One of the more ambitious projects involved tests installing radio communication equipment aboard Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad trains, conducted in 1913. In late 1915

6608-512: The company to claim fictitious appreciation that was never tested on the open market. Because the primary objective of United Wireless was the sale of nearly worthless stock at inflated prices, day-to-day operations could be used as a " loss leader " for gaining publicity, and also for driving legitimate competitors out of business by starving them of revenue. Shipboard installations and operators were provided by United at nominal rental cost or even for free. While somewhat crude by industry standards,

6726-558: The company was a reorganization of the Amalgamated Wireless Securities Company, which had been organized under the laws of Maine on December 6, 1904. (There had been considerable skepticism about Amalgamated at the time of its formation, with a United States Investor reviewer labeling it "the latest move in the De Forest Wireless comedy". ) United was initially capitalized by 1,000,000 shares of stock at $ 10

6844-922: The company was ranked 64th in the Forbes Global 2000 . In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 20 as the 14th most profitable company, but later very severely underperformed the market (by about 75%) as its profitability collapsed. Two employees of GE— Irving Langmuir (1932) and Ivar Giaever (1973)—have been awarded the Nobel Prize . Following the Great Recession of the late 2000s decade, General Electric began selling off various divisions and assets, including its appliances and financial capital divisions, under Jeff Immelt 's leadership as CEO. John Flannery, Immelt's replacement in 2017, further divested General Electric's assets in locomotives and lighting in order to focus

6962-404: The company was renamed back to Baker Hughes. In May 2017, GE had signed $ 15 billion of business deals with Saudi Arabia . Saudi Arabia is one of GE's largest customers. In September 2017, GE announced the sale of its Industrial Solutions Business to ABB . The deal closed on June 30, 2018. On August 15, 2019, Harry Markopolos , a financial fraud investigator known for his discovery of

7080-520: The company was seen as controlled by its British counterpart, so in 1919, pressured by the United States Navy, American Marconi would sell its assets to General Electric, which used them to form the Radio Corporation of America , creating a new dominant American radio company. Overall, United Wireless' six-year dominance of U.S. radio communications had a strong negative impact, in part due to

7198-573: The company's longtime stake in television and film media. In April 2013, GE acquired oilfield pump maker Lufkin Industries for $ 2.98 billion. In April 2014, it was announced that GE was in talks to acquire the global power division of French engineering group Alstom for a figure of around $ 13 billion. A rival joint bid was submitted in June 2014 by Siemens and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) with Siemens seeking to acquire Alstom's gas turbine business for €3.9 billion, and MHI proposing

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7316-522: The country. Following this, GE Capital focused on its core business and shed its non-core assets. In June 2012, CEO and President of GE Jeff Immelt said that the company would invest ₹ 3 billion to accelerate its businesses in Karnataka . In October 2012, GE acquired $ 7 billion worth of bank deposits from MetLife Inc . On March 19, 2013, Comcast bought GE's shares in NBCU for $ 16.7 billion, ending

7434-509: The deal was completed or to the public via an IPO if the deal was not completed. On March 1, 2010, GE announced plans to sell its 20.85% stake in Turkey-based Garanti Bank. In August 2010, GE Healthcare signed a strategic partnership to bring cardiovascular Computed Tomography (CT) technology from start-up Arineta Ltd. of Israel to the hospital market. In October 2010, GE acquired gas engines manufacturer Dresser Industries in

7552-426: The end of October 2016, it was announced that GE was under negotiations for a deal valued at about $ 30 billion to combine GE Oil & Gas with Baker Hughes . The transaction would create a publicly traded entity controlled by GE. It was announced that GE Oil & Gas would sell off its water treatment business, GE Water & Process Technologies, as part of its divestment agreement with Baker Hughes. The deal

7670-633: The firm looked to trim down on its holdings and rid itself of its image of a "hybrid" company, working in both banking and manufacturing. In August 2015, GE Capital agreed to sell its Healthcare Financial Services business to Capital One for US$ 9 billion. The transaction involved US$ 8.5 billion of loans made to a wide array of sectors, including senior housing, hospitals, medical offices, outpatient services, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. Also in August 2015, GE Capital agreed to sell GE Capital Bank's on-line deposit platform to Goldman Sachs . Terms of

7788-438: The formation of RCA the original American Marconi shareholders stood to benefit from this settlement. Following the end of hostilities a special Interdepartmental Radio Board was formed to review the claims. On May 31, 1921, the board issued a report to the U.S. Congress recommending award amounts for the affected parties, including $ 1,253,389.02 for four patents controlled by American Marconi. However, Congress decided not to follow

7906-532: The foundation for creating its new subsidiary, the Radio Corporation of America . On July 20, 1897, the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Limited, was founded in London to promote the radio inventions of Guglielmo Marconi. (The company's name was changed to Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Limited in March 1900, and was commonly referred to as "British Marconi".) Looking to expand their efforts worldwide,

8024-465: The funds of unwary investors purchasing heavily promoted and vastly overpriced stock. Faced with these barriers, American Marconi initially concentrated on establishing a small number of high-powered land stations, which provided transatlantic communication in competition with the existing undersea telegraph cables, in addition to serving passenger vessels making the Atlantic crossing. As late as early 1912,

8142-483: The government. The Navy assumed control of fifty-three American Marconi coastal stations, closing twenty-eight of them as unneeded. Also taken over were 370 radio-equipped oceangoing vessels, although an additional 170 smaller vessels and tugs were left under American Marconi control. The war resulted in large orders for radio equipment, and the Aldene plant was expanded, with employment in 1917 rising from 200 to 700. Although

8260-461: The grand claims about gaining control of the Marconi companies were immediately and vigorously denounced by Marconi officials as "repugnant", and Abraham White's overture to form an international company under his control was quickly and effectively repulsed. Absent from the new company was Lee de Forest, who had been American DeForest's Scientific Director, but was forced out in the summer of 1906. De Forest later stated he had resigned in protest over

8378-515: The improper actions of company management. However, an alternate explanation is that he was no longer welcome, due to his inability to develop an effective and non-infringing radio receiver — American DeForest's employment of electrolytic detectors had led to the Fessenden lawsuits, resulting in adverse and expensive legal judgments over the company's use. Moreover, General H. H. C. Dunwoody , an American DeForest vice president, had recently invented

8496-495: The largest user of computers outside the United States federal government , aside from being the first business in the world to own a computer. Its major appliance manufacturing plant " Appliance Park " was the first non-governmental site to host one. However, in 1970, GE sold its computer division to Honeywell , exiting the computer manufacturing industry, though it retained its timesharing operations for some years afterward. GE

8614-427: The man who first achieved successful radio transmission ... is not here in question”, and that the adoption of adjustable transformers in the transmitting and receiving circuits, which was an improvement of the initial invention, was anticipated by patents issued to Oliver Lodge and John Stone. Marconi's patent was also rendered irrelevant by the court preferring U.S. patent 645,576 , resulting in no compensation from

8732-452: The new field of aircraft turbo superchargers . This technology also led to the development of industrial gas turbine engines used for power production. GE introduced the first set of superchargers during World War I and continued to develop them during the interwar period . Superchargers became indispensable in the years immediately before World War II. GE supplied 300,000 turbo superchargers for use in fighter and bomber engines. This work led

8850-500: The next year, and that May five United officials, including Wilson, were convicted of mail fraud, receiving sentences ranging from one to three years. (Wilson would die in prison, at the Atlanta, Georgia penitentiary, in August 1912.) Crippled by the prosecution of its upper management, United declared bankruptcy and went into receivership in July 1911. It faced a second crisis when it was sued by

8968-402: The open market at pennies-on-the-dollar, instead of paying the full price charged for purchases made through the regular sales staff. The newly formed United was initially, and falsely, promoted as being a consolidation of the most prominent U.S. and British radio firms, combining American DeForest with the worldwide holding of London-based Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Limited. However,

9086-545: The original components of GE. Also in 1986, Kidder, Peabody & Co. , a U.S.-based securities firm, was sold to GE and following heavy losses was sold to PaineWebber in 1994. In 1997, Genpact was founded as a unit of General Electric in Gurgaon . The company was founded as GE Capital International Services (GECIS).  In the beginning, GECIS created processes for outsourcing back-office activities for GE Capital such as processing car loans and credit card transactions. It

9204-532: The overall U.S. government plan was to restore civilian ownership of the seized radio stations once the war ended, many Navy officials hoped to retain a monopoly on radio communication after the war. Defying instructions to the contrary, the Navy began purchasing large numbers of stations outright. As part of these efforts it offered to purchase the American Marconi shore stations that it was operating. Company officials noted that their oceangoing stations would be of little value if they no longer had any shore stations, so

9322-414: The parent Marconi company to American Marconi . Abraham White's original dream of consolidating the largest U.S. radio company with Marconi operations had now taken place, although under very different circumstances than White had envisioned. American Marconi, previously a minor factor in the U.S. market, was now in a position to dominate its few remaining competitors. However, despite its American charter,

9440-599: The parent company to American Marconi. It would later be alleged that this had unfairly benefited some British investors, in what came to be known as the Marconi scandal . The acquisition would prove to be a tremendous boost to American Marconi's fortunes, and the company boasted that "There is now nothing in the way of Marconi becoming the only system of commercial importance in the world." Recently passed laws required U.S. passenger ships to carry radio equipment, and American Marconi's near monopoly allowed it to set its own prices for

9558-552: The parent of Universal Pictures from Vivendi . Vivendi bought 20% of NBC, forming the company NBCUniversal . GE then owned 80% of NBCUniversal and Vivendi owned 20%. In 2004, GE completed the spin-off of most of its mortgage and life insurance assets into an independent company, Genworth Financial , based in Richmond, Virginia . In May 2007, GE acquired Smiths Aerospace for $ 4.8 billion. Also in 2007, GE Oil & Gas acquired Vetco Gray for $ 1.9 billion, followed by

9676-472: The pending alternator sales to the Marconi companies. This would leave General Electric without a buyer for its alternators, so the officers proposed that GE purchase American Marconi, and use the assets to form its own radio communications subsidiary. Young consented to this proposal, which, effective November 20, 1919, transformed American Marconi into the Radio Corporation of America. RCA retained most of

9794-439: The radio system adopted by such stations". American Marconi's growth in the United States was initially limited due to some unusual factors. Its largest potential customer was the U.S. government, and in particular the U.S. Navy, which rapidly developed plans to equip its vessels with radio transmitters. However, the Navy would have a contentious relationship with the company during most of its existence. An early source of friction

9912-509: The remedies proposed by GE were insufficient to resolve the competition concerns resulting from the proposed acquisition of Honeywell". On June 27, 2014, GE partnered with collaborative design company Quirky to announce its connected LED bulb called Link. The Link bulb is designed to communicate with smartphones and tablets using a mobile app called Wink . In December 1985, GE reacquired the RCA Corporation , primarily to gain ownership of

10030-493: The restrictive policy, but company officials refused, so the Lighthouse Board ordered the Marconi equipment removed, and it was replaced by a station designed by the Navy. Naval officials also wanted to purchase radio equipment outright, instead of leasing it, something American Marconi would not agree to prior to the 1912 policy change. They additionally felt the prices American Marconi wanted to charge were exorbitant. Thus,

10148-576: The same location. Owen D. Young, who was then GE's general counsel and vice president, through GE, founded the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1919. This came after Young, while working with senior naval officers, purchased the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America , which was a subsidiary of the British company Marconi Wireless and Signal Company. He aimed to expand international radio communications. GE used RCA as its retail arm for radio sales. In 1926, RCA co-founded

10266-683: The service, United helped save the lives of endangered seafarers now able to summon assistance during emergencies. Lee de Forest, while decrying the excesses of the company's senior management, had good things to say about some of the technical staff, writing: "Charles Galbraith and his corps of honest, capable, hard-working men, engineers, and operators who had been instrumental in building up the American De Forest Wireless Telegraph Company, had gone determinedly ahead developing 'United' along sane and businesslike lines..." In particular, equipment designed by Harry Shoemaker had

10384-399: The service. Previously the company had struggled financially, losing money in each of its first eleven years, and had not paid a stock dividend prior to a 2% payout in 1912. However, in his 1912 annual report treasurer John Bottomley exuberantly reported that "The condition of the treasury is satisfactory, if not plethoric. We have, together with cash on hand and investments running 4-12 months,

10502-569: The skepticism and disrepute it and other fraudulent U.S. companies brought to the fledgling industry. (Two other major fraudulent firms prosecuted in 1912 were de Forest's Radio Telephone Company, and the Continental Wireless Telephone and Telegraph Company, led by A. Frederick Collins ). Reviews of the United era were not completely negative. By providing radio equipment and operators below cost to freighters and small passenger vessels, which normally would not have been able to afford

10620-402: The station reluctantly obeyed. It remained closed until January 16 of the following year, when, with its legal options exhausted, it began to comply with the Navy's procedures. After the United States entered World War One, on April 7, 1917 a presidential order instructed most civilian U.S. radio stations to cease operating, and those considered to be of value to the war effort were taken over by

10738-474: The sum of over five million dollars, all of which is available at any time." In 1915 the company further stated that "The number of ship and shore equipments now operated by your company is approximately twenty times that of three years ago." Following the start of World War One in Europe, the United States declared its strict neutrality in the conflict. Due to concerns that radio stations could be covertly used to aid

10856-408: The technology needed to become commercially profitable. On land, radiotelegraph stations were unable to compete with existing telegraph lines. The main revenue source for the new communications technology was point-to-point radiotelegraphic communication at sea, plus transoceanic links, however, revenues from these sources were still very limited. Because of the lack of legitimate opportunities, United

10974-515: The third president of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). American Marconi also branched out into some ancillary activities. In 1911, the Wanamaker department stores contracted to have radiotelegraph stations, providing two-way communication, installed atop their Philadelphia and New York City stores. The next year a manufacturing plant was established in Aldene, New Jersey; previously equipment had been imported from Great Britain. Beginning in 1912

11092-505: The time, and GE increased engineering and supplies for the Wind Division and doubled the annual sales to $ 1.2 billion in 2003. It acquired ScanWind in 2009. In 2018, GE Power garnered press attention when a model 7HA gas turbine in Texas was shut down for two months due to the break of a turbine blade . This model uses similar blade technology to GE's newest and most efficient model,

11210-596: The transaction were not disclosed, but the sale included US$ 8 billion of on-line deposits and another US$ 8 billion of brokered certificates of deposit. The sale was part of GE's strategic plan to exit the U.S. banking sector and to free itself from tightening banking regulations. GE also aimed to shed its status as a "systematically important financial institution". In September 2015, GE Capital agreed to sell its transportation finance unit to Canada's Bank of Montreal . The unit sold had US$ 8.7 billion (CA$ 11.5 billion) of assets, 600 employees, and 15 offices in

11328-498: The tuning patent U.S. patent 763,772 from 1904 which had previously been fundamental to many American Marconi legal victories. This "four sevens" patent — so named because Marconi's U.S. patent No. 763,772 was a counterpart to the original filing, British patent No. 7,777 — was also found to be invalid, with the court ruling that it had been anticipated by John Stone Stone 's U.S. patent 714,756 as well as those by Lodge and Tesla. The verdict stated that “Marconi's reputation as

11446-500: The turbine blade issue of the 9FB unit would impact the new HA units. GE was one of the eight major computer companies of the 1960s along with IBM , Burroughs , NCR , Control Data Corporation , Honeywell , RCA , and UNIVAC . GE had a line of general purpose and special purpose computers, including the GE 200 , GE 400 , and GE 600 series general-purpose computers, the GE/PAC 4000 series real-time process control computers, and

11564-413: The unwary at inflated prices, while enforcing restrictions designed to artificially boost the apparent stock value. A common practice was to include a clause that blocked resale of stock on the open market, by refusing to register transferred shares. These restrictions meant that United's management could declare arbitrary stock valuations that increased at regular intervals, eventually reaching $ 50, allowing

11682-461: The world's largest engine manufacturers, bypassing the British company Rolls-Royce plc . Some consumers boycotted GE light bulbs, refrigerators, and other products during the 1980s and 1990s. The purpose of the boycott was to protest against GE's role in nuclear weapons production. In 2002, GE acquired the wind power assets of Enron during its bankruptcy proceedings. Enron Wind was the only surviving U.S. manufacturer of large wind turbines at

11800-618: Was a Marconi station installed on the Nantucket Shoals light-ship by the New York Herald in the summer of 1901. American Marconi's refusal to communicate with non-Marconi stations soon led to an international incident when, in early 1902, the Nantucket operators were unwilling to acknowledge a transmission from the German vessel Deutschland . The German government made a formal protest, and Navy attempted to get American Marconi to eliminate

11918-599: Was a major provider of computer time-sharing services through General Electric Information Services (GEIS, now GXS), offering online computing services that included GEnie . In 2000, when United Technologies Corp. planned to buy Honeywell, GE made a counter-offer that was approved by Honeywell. On July 3, 2001, the European Union issued a statement that "prohibit the proposed acquisition by General Electric Co. of Honeywell Inc.". The reasons given were it "would create or strengthen dominant positions on several markets and that

12036-597: Was an experimental concept at the time and the beginning of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. GE sold 60% stake in Genpact to General Atlantic and Oak Hill Capital Partners in 2005 and hived off Genpact into an independent business. GE is still a major client to Genpact today for services in customer service, finance, information technology, and analytics. In 2001, GE acquired Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo and incorporated it into NBC. In 2002, Francisco Partners and Norwest Venture Partners acquired

12154-644: Was cleared by the EU in May 2017, and by the United States Department of Justice in June 2017. The merger agreement was approved by shareholders at the end of June 2017. On July 3, 2017, the transaction was completed, and Baker Hughes became a GE company and was renamed Baker Hughes, a GE Company (BHGE). In November 2018, GE reduced its stake in Baker Hughes to 50.4%. On October 18, 2019, GE reduced its stake to 36.8% and

12272-423: Was concerned that this would guarantee British domination of international radio communication. The Navy, claiming the support of President Wilson, began to develop an alternative that would result in an "all-American" company taking over the American Marconi assets. In April 1919 two naval officers, Admiral H. G. Bullard and Commander S. C. Hooper , met with GE's president, Owen D. Young , asking that he suspend

12390-449: Was described as "one of the most gigantic schemes to defraud investors that has ever been unearthed in this country", beginning with the arrest of Christopher Columbus Wilson and one of his top associates. In August, seven United officials were formally indicted in Federal court — in response, the 64-year-old Wilson, a widower, blithely married his 18-year-old secretary. A trial followed

12508-607: Was expected to be completed in 2015. In October 2014, GE announced it was considering the sale of its Polish banking business Bank BPH . Later in 2014, General Electric announced plans to open its global operations center in Cincinnati , Ohio. The Global Operations Center opened in October 2016 as home to GE's multifunctional shared services organization. It supports the company's finance/accounting, human resources, information technology, supply chain, legal and commercial operations, and

12626-435: Was finalized on January 4, 2023. This was followed by the spin-off of GE's portfolio of energy businesses on April 2, 2024, into GE Vernova. Following these transactions, General Electric Company changed its trading name to GE Aerospace, pivoted to aviation, and ceased to exist as a conglomerate. During 1889, Thomas Edison (1847–1931) had business interests in many electricity-related companies, including Edison Lamp Company,

12744-604: Was fired from GE in 1958 by Ralph J. Cordiner for overstepping his bounds and successfully gaining the ERMA contract. Cordiner was strongly against GE entering the computer business because he did not see the potential in it. In 1962, GE started developing its GECOS (later renamed GCOS) operating system , originally for batch processing , but later extended to time-sharing and transaction processing . Versions of GCOS are still in use today. From 1964 to 1969, GE and Bell Laboratories (which soon dropped out) joined with MIT to develop

12862-529: Was hailed for eliminating one of the largest financial frauds of the period. However, its disappearance also left the U.S. radio industry largely under foreign influence, dominated by the British-controlled Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (American Marconi). United Wireless' establishment was announced with great fanfare in November 1906 by its founder and first president, stock promoter Abraham White. Legally,

12980-425: Was held by former New Jersey governor John W. Griggs from the office's establishment until the company's dissolution. Frederick Stammis became the company's chief engineer in 1908, and was replaced by Roy Weagant in 1915. Perhaps the most famous American Marconi employee was David Sarnoff , who was hired as an office boy in September 1906, and by 1917 had become the company's commercial manager. Sarnoff later became

13098-636: Was incorporated in New York on April 24, 1889. The new company acquired Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company in the same year. The consolidation did not involve all of the companies established by Edison; notably, the Edison Illuminating Company , which would later become Consolidated Edison , was not part of the merger. In 1880, Gerald Waldo Hart formed the American Electric Company of New Britain, Connecticut , which merged

13216-452: Was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant used as headquarters for many years thereafter. Around the same time, General Electric's Canadian counterpart, Canadian General Electric , was formed. In 1893, General Electric bought the business of Rudolf Eickemeyer in Yonkers, New York , along with all of its patents and designs. Eickemeyer's firm had developed transformers for use in

13334-568: Was instead primarily used by company insiders to prey upon the hopes (or greed) of persons who remembered the large profits made by some early investors in telegraph and, to an even greater extent, telephone companies. United Wireless promotional materials painted a glowing picture of the company's future, including claims that their engineers would soon perfect audio transmissions, bringing income from subscribers using radiotelephones for personal communication or for listening to entertainment broadcasts. United management continued to offer new shares to

13452-472: Was its practice of disregarding patent rights when awarding equipment contracts. Under the provisions of a June 25, 1910 congressional act, it also provided immunity to the manufacturers by assuming all legal liability, which in turn meant that companies claiming patent infringement had to seek relief from the government through the Court of Claims , a cumbersome and expensive process. American Marconi decided to launch

13570-433: Was said to be the first broadcast to the public in the United States on GE's W2XAD : the pictures were picked up on 1.5 square inches (9.7 square centimeters) screens in the homes of four GE executives. The sound was broadcast on GE's WGY (AM) . Experimental television station W2XAD evolved into the station WRGB , which, along with WGY and WGFM (now WRVE ), was owned and operated by General Electric until 1983. In 1965,

13688-543: Was the largest radio communications firm in the United States, from its late-1906 formation until its bankruptcy and takeover by Marconi interests in mid-1912. At the time of its demise, the company was operating around 70 land and 400 shipboard radiotelegraph installations — by far the most in the U.S. However, the firm's management had been substantially more interested in fraudulent stock promotion schemes than in ongoing operations or technical development. United Wireless' shutdown, following federal mail fraud prosecution,

13806-538: Was the plaintiff, winning in four and losing three, with one case discontinued. In the two suits where it was the defendant, American Marconi prevailed in one and lost the other. The American Marconi cases included some of the most prominent of the time. In 1904 John Ambrose Fleming invented a two-element vacuum tube , which became known as the Fleming valve . Although it had limited applications, it could be used for receiving radio signals. In 1906 Lee de Forest developed

13924-562: Was the standing order that, except in the case of emergencies, Marconi shore and ship stations would refuse to communicate with vessels employing radio equipment manufactured by other companies. An example of this was when RMS Carpathia refused to provide information to SS Birma offering help after the sinking of the Titanic because Birma did not use a Marconi wireless. This unwillingness to communicate with other systems would eventually be prohibited by international treaties, beginning with

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