Employees gathered at GE Aerospace in Evendale Tuesday afternoon to commemorate the first day of operating as a standalone company.
"Today marks a historic final step in the multi-year transformation of GE. I am tremendously proud of our team, their resilience, and their dedication to achieving this defining moment," said Chairman and CEO Larry Culp.
Employees at the gathering in Evendale cheered as a handful of colleagues from GE Aerospace and GE Vernova — also marking the first day of standalone operations — in New York rang the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate the occasion. Culp and Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova, rang the opening bell Tuesday morning.
"It was the first time in the history of the New York Stock Exchange that two companies opened up on the same day," Culp told the gathering in Evendale. "They've never done that and I suspect they'll never do that again."
GE Aerospace will be traded on the NYSE under the ticker "GE." GE Vernova will be listed as "GEV."
"Today is unbelievably exciting," Mike Kaufman, vice president of operations and supply chain, told WVXU. "It's really three years in the making [since] GE decided to spin-off each of the three primary components and today we are GE Aerospace."
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GE announced in July 2022 that GE Aviation would rebrand as GE Aerospace. The move was part of a plan announced in 2021 to separate the 130-year-old company into three separate entities: GE Healthcare, GE Vernova — which encompasses the portfolio of energy businesses — and GE Aviation, deemed GE Aerospace the following year.
GE Aerospace has about 52,000 employees globally, including more than 10,500 in Cincinnati and Dayton. It reported approximately $32 billion in adjusted revenue in 2023, according to a statement.
GE Aerospace will issue its first quarter 2024 earnings April 23.
Culp thanked employees and talked about the road ahead as a singular entity.
"From here forward, it is all on us," he said. "I hope you would want it no other way. We're going to have a board that understands this industry and thus this business better than any other board we have ever had. Does that intimidate you or inspire you?
"We're going to have investors who are quite smart, are responsible for millions of dollars — sometimes billions of dollars — of investment decisions, who study our industry, study us, study our competitions [and customers] maybe more than we do, and they're going to be watching us every day. Does that intimidate you or does it inspire you?
"Bring it on," he concluded.
Last month, the company announced it's investing $650 million at its manufacturing sites and supplier partners in 14 states. The company says that includes $64.2 million in Evendale, $18.2 million in West Chester and $25 million in Peebles.
How will it be spent locally?
- Evendale: upgraded machines, additional hoists and new specialized tooling to increase engine production and assembly; some building modernization and upgrades of test cells.
- West Chester: new additive manufacturing machines; new tooling and equipment for building widebody aircraft engines and military helicopter engines.
- Peebles: additional equipment, smart test cell upgrades, and specialized tooling for testing and developing widebody, narrowbody and regional aircraft engines; some building upgrades.
