General Electric Co

General Electric Co. announced Monday that it would restate its first-quarter earnings to reflect a one-time, $1.8-billion charge for adopting a new accounting standard for retiree benefits. The change is expected to result in a first-quarter per share loss of 85 to 95 cents, according to GE spokesman George Jamison. The after-tax charge on earnings represents less than 10% of GE's equity and will not affect cash flow, the company said.

NBC Universal won't be capturing any financial gold medals this year. General Electric Co. said Friday that it would lose more than previously indicated -- about $250 million -- on its coverage of next month's Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The new disclosure came as GE reported weaker fourth-quarter results Friday that were accompanied by a stronger outlook for 2011. But operating income at the Fairfield, Conn.-based industrial giant's entertainment and media unit continued to decline despite higher profits among its cable TV channels, including USA and CNBC.

NEW YORK -- Stocks fell sharply early today after a bigger-than-expected loss at Bank of America and a weak report from General Electric reminded investors that businesses and consumers are still struggling to pay off their debts. Bank of America Corp. said it lost more than $2 billion after preferred dividends in the third quarter, steeper than what analysts had been expecting. One of the largest recipients of government bailout funds, the bank said its losses from failed loans came to almost $10 billion.

General Electric Co. is recalling 2.5 million dishwashers because of a wiring problem that could cause fires. The recall includes dishwashers sold under the brands Eterna, GE, GE Profile, GE Monogram, Hotpoint and Sears-Kenmore. Owners should contact GE for a free repair or a rebate toward a new dishwasher.

Kemper Rejects General Electric Bid: Kemper Corp.'s board voted unanimously to reject a $2.2-billion hostile takeover offer from General Electric Co. In a letter to General Electric Chairman John F. Welch, Kemper Chairman David B. Mathis called the GE bid a "low-ball proposal" and said that "Kemper's stockholders are best served by providing current management with the opportunity to realize Kemper's tremendous upside potential."

GE Whistle-Blower's Award Stands: A federal judge has awarded $11.5 million to Chester Walsh, a former employee of General Electric Co., for calling attention to an alleged bribery scheme involving an Israeli Air Force general. General Electric pleaded guilty last summer to four charges in connection with the sale of military jet engines to Israel. The Justice Department had sought unsuccessfully to reduce Walsh's award--the largest ever to a whistle-blower--to $4.5 million.

GE Wins Korea Project: General Electric Co. has won a $400-million project to launch South Korea's first satellite, published reports said. Korean newspapers, quoting government sources, said the Korean government selected General Electric of Fairfield, Conn., over British Aerospace of Great Britain as the main manufacturer of a telecommunications satellite to be launched in 1995. A spokesman for GE Aerospace, the GE unit in Valley Forge, Penn.

GE Says It Probably Won't Sell NBC: Jay Ireland, corporate investor communications director for General Electric Co., said options remain open but that the company is committed to its NBC broadcasting unit and a sale is unlikely. Asked about published reports that General Electric has been trying to sell NBC, Ireland, in Houston to give a speech to security analysts, said: "Is (a sale) a probable option with NBC? Probably not."

General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt, sounding less committed to the entertainment business, said Friday that his company was getting its peacocks in a row for a possible change in ownership at NBC Universal. The industrial giant has mostly kept quiet about plans to sell part of its stake in NBC Universal as its broadcast TV and movie studio have faltered amid an advertising recession, its programming has missed at the network, and a string of costly box-office duds has prompted the ouster of two top film executives.

Fresh out of Stanford law school in 1951, Irving Sulmeyer knocked on the doors in Los Angeles of what are euphemistically called "white-shoe" law firms -- established, powerful and, at the time, far from ethnically diverse. Because he was Jewish, no one would hire him, his family and colleagues said, so he started his own practice. The firm -- long called Sulmeyer, Kupetz, Baumann & Rothmann -- became known for its work on bankruptcy and insolvency cases and its founder was regarded as an expert on bankruptcy law. Sulmeyer, 82, died of cancer Sept.

Vivendi is being un peu mysterieuse . The board of the French media and telecommunications company met in Paris on Wednesday, but the company refused to say whether it had voted to shed its 20% stake in NBC Universal -- or whether the subject was even discussed. Vivendi has time to decide. On Nov. 15, a three-week window opens for Vivendi to notify its partner, General Electric Co., whether it will exercise an option to sell its interest in NBC Universal. That window reopens each year.

After two decades as owner of one of America's storied broadcasters, and five years operating a fabled movie studio, General Electric Co. appears ready to take a smaller part in show business. The industrial giant, maker of jet engines and wind turbines, is in talks to have cable TV leader Comcast Corp. assume management of NBC Universal, which includes NBC; more than 10 cable channels including Bravo, MSNBC and USA Network; the Universal Pictures movie studio; and the Universal Studios theme parks.

General Electric Co. called a Fox News Channel report about the company supplying terrorists with material used in bombs "irresponsible and maliciously false" on Wednesday, as a feud between Fox's Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann kept sizzling. It was the first time that GE, the parent company of NBC News and MSNBC, had publicly responded to accusations made by O'Reilly on his Fox show. Olbermann also kept up his attacks, naming O'Reilly one of his "worst persons in the world" on Tuesday's show.

The on-screen and behind-scenes feuding between rivals Fox News and MSNBC, which has erupted in recent months like two kids squabbling, has gotten so loud that their parents are trying to tell them to knock it off. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp., which owns Fox News, and Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric Co., which owns MSNBC, met up at the Microsoft CEO summit in Redmond, Wash.

General Electric Co., the world's largest company by market value, said it planned to sell about $3.8 billion of common stock to help fund its agreement to buy the media assets of Vivendi Universal. General Electric agreed in October to merge its NBC television unit with the Vivendi assets in a transaction the companies valued at $14 billion, including assumption of $1.7 billion in debt. Vivendi will keep about 20% of the new entity, called NBC Universal.

General Electric Co. said it will fire about 4% of the staff at CNBC, the top-rated financial news cable television network, and 26% of the work force at the channel's Internet site. About 520 people work at CNBC, excluding the Internet site. CNBC.com has about 100 employees. CNBC is part of General Electric's NBC unit, which includes the NBC broadcast network. The cuts are part of NBC's plan to reduce its overall work force by 5% to 10% by the end of the month.

General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt declined a 2008 bonus and millions of dollars in performance awards, saying Wednesday that the company's falling profit and share price prompted him to forgo the payments. The Fairfield, Conn.-based conglomerate, which makes locomotives, appliances and many other goods, said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Immelt would not receive his $11.7-million long-term performance award.

French media conglomerate Vivendi plans to keep its 20% stake in NBC Universal -- at least for another year. Vivendi's decision Wednesday not to exercise an option to sell its minority interest eases a potential headache for General Electric Co., which owns 80% of the television network, movie studio and theme park business. GE has the right to buy Vivendi's stake before it is offered to the public. For GE, the timing would not have been ideal. The Fairfield, Conn.