(EdisonReport presented a LightTrades(tm) Award to GE Lighting in 2014 for Bytelight, a company/technology that was later sold to Acuity Brands.)
The following is an internal email sent to GE Lighting Employees from Bill Lacey, President and CEO, GE Lighting:
Lighting Team,
Over the past year, we have made bold strategic changes aimed at strengthening and focusing our business. These actions position us well for continued growth and opportunity, no matter what our path, and today we start a potential new path.
Today GE is formally beginning discussions with buyers around a proposed sale of our GE Lighting business. We are doing terrific things, leading the lighting industry and driving growth in the markets where we operate. We have an opportunity to accelerate this work as part of a potential new organization under new ownership where lighting is a priority and focus.
I want to be clear that I view this as an exciting time for our business and our customers. If we look at our former colleagues at Appliances, as an example, you will see teams thriving under new ownership that shares their same mission. Change breeds opportunity.
We are early on this journey, and as conversations with prospective buyers progress, the company could consider several strategic options. This could include considering different buyers for different parts of the business. We won’t have answers to everything today. Focus on what we do know, and know that I intend to be as transparent as possible throughout this process.
That starts with an All Employee Meeting and broadcast at 9:00 a.m. EST today. An invitation will soon follow. Come with your questions.
We also have created a question and feedback box that you can access here anytime, either by name or anonymously. Please send us your questions, and we will answer as many as we have answers for as part of ongoing update communications.
During this time, we must continue to operate this business and serve our customers well. We’ll have calls with our commercial teams separately today to drive transparent conversations with our customers, too, and ensure they understand our focus and strategy remain unchanged.
I look forward to sharing more in the All Employee Meeting and in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you for being open to this process.