It's an anti-trust issue. http://www.bizjournals.com/charlott...lux-witnesses-talk-price-increases-stock.html They are quite eager to stop the acquisition even though it's quite clear GE appliances wanted to exit the business [[in 2008] and I suppose they still intend to. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ge-appliances-idUSN1520830120080516 At that time they thought they'd get between $3-$8 billion. Considering the fact that Electrolux is offering $3 billion maybe it's time GE appliances was sold off.
I'm quite 50-50 about these things. I don't like the government messing with corporations as that usually just leads to bureaucracy and a big mess... basically making simple things complicated. But on the other hand it does make sense, I cannot think of a single non-regulated monopoly where the consumer doesn't get completely screwed over because they have no choice but to buy the product from this one company.
Odd that they should be forced by the courts not to sell their business. While yeah monopoly or duopoly should be concern everyone the government shouldn't involve itself in this. Since the U.S can buy private companies [don't know if the laws have change], if they don't want GE appliances sold why doesn't the government buy it?
I don't get it why GE is closing shop. From what I know, GE appliances are doing good in the market and although they don't sell that much, their appliances are still in competition since GE has many loyal consumers. Electrolux is noted for expensive appliances. I remember in the olden days when their vacuum cleaners were selling here with the help of temps acting as sales agents. It did not prosper because the demand couldn't cope with the price, too expensive. So my point is that GE appliances will cost more under the label Electrolux.
Because the government doesn't have the billions to spend on a company that the government doesn't need. It makes no sense... if the government would outbid all of these deals that go into anti-trust issues then soon the government would have a monopoly on everything. There has to be some measure to stop monopolies, if the government doesn't do it then who does?
This is a head-scratcher for me. I wonder what in particular they are worried about. Labor costs are so low around the world, there will always be competition, and cheap competition on home appliances. There might be some very particular thing they are concerned about, more than likely they will just force GE to sell that one product/line to someone else, but Electrolux will still get the majority.
Makes sense. The article refers to "cooking appliances" but it's probably limited to some of the more expensive stuff such as stoves, their air vents etc. You can always find the cheaper "plug into the wall and use" appliances from a variety of different brands but the ones that are usually installed by a company can have significantly less variety since the appliance companies can quite easily make "only our products" deal with these companies providing full kitchen refurnishing services etc.
Is Electrolux big in that area? Just seems like a very small issue over a pretty big deal. GE used to have a lot of political clout and was one of the reasons I bought it back in the 1990s, but this DOJ issue I just don´t get.
The deal apparently is off but GE still does intend to sell the appliances business. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35031578 Sounds like GE will make some money from this deal any way.
