It is seldom that chairman make remarks like the one attributed to General Electric Co chief John Welch about the possibility of GE Information Services being for sale (CI No 987) without there being something pretty substantial behind them – and if the company had not actually put the business on the block, it is certain that reports of the comment will bring potential buyers flocking to GE’s Stamford, Connecticut doors, since the GE network is widely regarded as the most attractive property of its kind in the world, and of particular interest to the UK carriers who decided to sit out the sale of bits of Infonet around Europe: in other words British Telecommunications Plc and Cable & Wireless Plc can be assumed to be very interested, but if it came to an auction, it would be a very tough one to call, because IBM could be expected to find the business irresistible, and that might well bring ambitious Bull SA of France in in partnership with its Honeywell Bull unit – GE Information Services is the world’s biggest single user of Honeywell, and now NEC Corp top end mainframes.
BUYERS WHO WOULD FLOCK TO GE INFORMATION’S DOOR
