Power Failure

Power Failure by William Cohan chronicles the spectacular collapse of General Electric, once America's most valuable company. From a $600 billion giant to near-bankruptcy, GE's downfall reveals how financialization and imperial CEOs destroyed a 130-year industrial icon. In 2001, General Electric was the most valuable company on Earth. It was worth $600 billion, employed 300,000 people, and business schools taught the "GE Way" as gospel. By 2018, it had lost 90% of its value, fired its CEO, slashed its dividend for only the second time since the Great Depression, and was fighting for survival. William Cohan's Power Failure transforms this collapse into a Shakespearean tragedy about corporate culture and American capitalism. From Edison's first light bulbs to Jeff Immelt's desperate final days, Cohan shows how the company that literally illuminated America became "a huge unregulated bank with a light-bulb logo." The result is equal parts invention history, boardroom knife-fight, and f ... Read full article.