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GE Consumer & Industrial

GE Consumer & Industrial

Sales: $17.7 billion

The days are numbered for GE's trademark industrial unit. Last week the company announced it will spin off the lightbulbs-to-refrigerators-to-dishwashers division, which is struggling mightily as consumers eschew large-scale home purchases. Second-quarter profit for the segment fell 55%, prompting management to unload the business that Thomas Edison launched back in 1878.