'Hype, Hubris and Blind Ambition'

GE may have brought good things to life' over its 130-year history, but its rise and fall is a business cautionary tale for modern times

- GE may have brought good things to life' over its 130-year history, but its rise and fall is a business cautionary tale for modern times

General Electric has a storied history and was the ultimate blue-chip stock. Electrical power pioneers Thomas Edison and Charles Coffin merged their enterprises in 1892 to become General Electric. The company grew into a household name, synonymous with everything from household appliances to jet engines to financial services, but 130 years after its rise, the huge conglomerate that was GE is being sold for parts. How and why this happened is the story bestselling author and financial journalist William D. Cohan tells in his new book, power failure: the rise and fall of an American icon (Portfolio). In this exclusive excerpt, Cohan describes his meeting with 20-year GE CEO Jack Welch—and Welch’s stinging rebuke of his successor, whom he blamed for GE’s demise.

IT WAS AT THE EXCLUSIVE NANTUCKET GOLF Club in Siasconset (often shortened to "Sconset") in August 2018 that Jack Welch, the octogenarian titan of American capitalism, invited me to lunch. We sat overlooking the ninth hole. Welch got around tentatively, with the help of either a cane or, as he called it, his "wagon," a three-wheeled, triangular walker. He'd had health problems for years, starting when he had a heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery in 1995. In 2009, he spent 92 days in a New York hospital battling a staph infection; he almost died. Never a physically imposing man, he now seemed even more gnome-like, a big head atop a shrinking body. But his mind remained razor sharp. And his personality remained a mix of infinite charm and biting candor.