关于通用电气大重组你需要了解的三件事

    通用电气上周五宣布，将出售旗下通用资本大部分业务，转型为一家“更简单、更有价值的公司”，专注于核心的工业领域。

    此决策对通用电气有里程碑式的意义。这家企业从电气设备、电灯和家电制造起家，经过一系列战略收购、创新和重组，成为全球性的多元化企业。

    当你在密切关注通用电气大规模重组的新闻时，牢记以下三点可以让你理清头脑：

    1、投资者不喜欢综合性大企业。这是通用电气此举的基本原理，也是个很好的理由。多元化经营主要优势之一应该是分散风险，可几十年前很多公司就发现，投资者不喜欢这种模式。比起投资一家旗下业务众多的综合性大企业，投资者更愿意自己在各行业配置多元投资组合。这就是众所周知的“集团化折价”（conglomerate discount）。通用电气是少数迎难而上的大型多元化集团，但其总部特别讨厌“集团”一词。通用电气首席执行官杰夫•伊梅尔特多年来一直努力“去集团化”，不过名义上不这么说，具体举措包括出售美国国家广播电视公司NBC、剥离塑料业务、退出家电市场等。随着通用资本的出售，他迈出了漫长的“去集团化”计划中最大的一步，也是最引人注目的一步。你猜怎么着？剥离通用资本的消息一公布，通用电气的股价应声而涨。果不其然。

    2、企业的成功最终要看剔除成本后取得多少资本回报——这是显而易见的事实,却很少有人注意到。非常重要却被忽视的一点是，伊梅尔特上任以来，通用电气的资本规模大幅扩张。金融危机期间，该公司失去了宝贵的AAA信用评级，融资成本随之增加。这不是好事。剥离大部分通用资本的业务后，伊梅尔特也成功削减了大量资本。但只有当通用电气其他资本密集型业务获得高回报时，才能确信此举对公司有利。此外，出售通用资本后有个重要的负面影响，即通用电气的融资成本将进一步提高，因为信用评级机构穆迪已经因此下调其债务评级。

    3、股票回购有利也有弊。宣布重组的同时，通用电气还公布了股票回购计划，金额高达500亿美元，听起来像是投资者乐见的消息。但不要忘了：企业回购股票和散户投资股票一样，只有在合适的价格购入才是划算的交易。过去，通用电气曾在交易价远超当前价位时回购股票，金融危机期间又不得不以极低的价格抛售。高买低卖当然无法让企业蓬勃发展。希望这次回购不会重蹈覆辙，但结局究竟怎样谁也不知道。（财富中文网）

    译者：Pessy Wang

    审校: 夏林

    General Electric GE 10.96% said Friday it plans to sell most of its GE Capital unit to create a “simpler, more valuable company” focused on its core industrial operations.

    It’s a landmark decision for the company, which grew from a manufacturer of electrical gear, light bulbs, and appliances into a global conglomerate through a process of strategic acquisitions, innovations, and reorganizations.

    Here are three insights to keep in mind as we follow the news of GE’s massive restructuring.

    1. Investors don’t like conglomerates.That’s the simple rationale for GE’s move, and it’s a good one. Diversification of risk was supposed to be one of the main attractions of conglomerates, but most of the world learned decades ago that investors don’t like it. They’d rather diversify by assembling their own portfolio of different businesses than have a corporate manager assemble one for them. Thus the well-known “conglomerate discount.” GE was one of the few major companies that plowed ahead as a widely diverse conglomerate (a term they hate at headquarters). CEO Jeff Immelt has been de-conglomerating GE for years, without exactly calling it that — no more NBC, plastics, or appliances. What he’s doing now is his biggest, most dramatic move in his long-running de-conglomerating program. And guess what: The stock jumped on the news. Not a surprise.

    2. Corporate success is ultimately a matter of earning a return on capital that exceeds the cost of capital— it’s an obvious fact that is rarely examined. Highly significant, though seldom noted, is that Immelt has added boatloads of capital to GE during his tenure. In the financial crisis, GE lost its treasured triple-A credit rating, thus raising the cost of that mountain of capital. Not good. By getting rid of most of GE Capital, he also offloads tons of capital. That could be a good thing, but only if he can earn high returns on the remaining capital-intensive industrial businesses. An important downside of the move: It causes GE’s capital costs to rise even more, because it prompted Moody’s to downgrade the company’s debt rating.

    3. Beware the allure of share buybacks.GE announced a buyback of up to $50 billion with the restructuring, which sounds like something investors should love. But remember: for companies as for individuals, buying shares is a good idea only at the right price. In the past GE has spent billions buying back shares when the stock was trading at prices much higher than the current one — and then was forced to sell shares at far lower prices during the financial crisis. Buying high, selling low — that’s not the road to prosperity. Let’s hope this buyback works out better, but one never knows.