Does G.E. know something we don't? They are selling their appliance business (or might spin it off into a subsidiary) and getting into the weather forecasting and reporting business. General Electric's NBC Universal, partnering with Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, just paid the Weather Channel $3.5 billion for the 25 year old service. G.E. is banking on the fact that 24 hour weather viewing will be very profitable, particularly online. The Weather Channel web site is second only to Yahoo News in web market share for weather related sites.
Considering all of the unpredictable weather due to global warming, it is probably a good bet that investing in weather channels will pay off big time. If things continue in their current direction, weather channels will be the first thing everybody checks each day. Just as turning on the lights used to be. G.E. knows how to stay ahead of the curve.
G.E. also hopes to sell wind turbines and nuclear power plants.
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