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Byline: KATHRYN KRANHOLD AND CAROL HYMOWITZ General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt defended his strategy despite cries to split up and remake the conglomerate following its disappointing Friday earnings [...]

The Middle East continues to be a key emerging market for General Electric Co.'s energy business, with $1.8 bil in anticipated new orders in addition to $2 bil in power plant projects previously announced. GE's revenue for the Middle Eastern market has increased between 15% to 20% per year, with sales expected to hit $50 bil by 2010.

Byline: DANIEL MICHAELS AND KATHRYN KRANHOLD; With files from J. Lynn Lunsford An escalating dispute between Airbus SAS and jet-engine supplier General Electric Co. could set back the European plane [...]

France's Airbus S.A.S. and General Electric Co. have run into a disagreement over the jet engines GE is supplying for the Airbus A350 airplane. The A350 is designed to compete with American rival Boeing Co.'s 777 model, for which GE also supplies the engines. However, GE officials have indicated to Airbus they will not manufacture a new engine that competes with the 777.

General Electric Co. is close to reaching a deal to sell its plastics unit to Saudi Basic Industries Corp., a deal valued at $11 bil. Sales for the plastics unit reached $6.6 bil last year; Sabic revenue for 2006 reached $23.06 bil.

General Electric Co. expects to post 2007 earnings growth exceeding 10%, with more than half its revenue coming from outside the US. Nations ordering its infrastructure products and services include Eastern Europe, India, China, South America, and Saudi Arabia. Foreign business comprised 49% of GE's sales last year.

Plastics, once the material of the future, has now become expensive to produce, leading General Electric Co. to try to sell its plastics division. CEO Jeffrey Immelt, who has been involved in other recent GE acquisitions and divestments, hopes to sell the unit for up to $10 billion.

General Electric Co. has miscalculated its tax rate, resulting in lower tax payments in 2006. This will have a negative impact on the company's yearly profit .

General Electric Co. of the United States posted a 46 percent fall in earnings with a net income report of $3.06 billion in the fourth quarter. Results were influenced by a $2.9 billion expense associated with the recent divestment of its reinsurance business.

DreamWorks SKG of the United States is to be acquired by Paramount Pictures Corp. also of the United States. The movie industry purchase was being negotiated with General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal for months. But when negotiations slowed Tom Freston from Viacom Inc. snapped the deal over sandwiches with Steven Spielberg at Mr. Spielberg's home by the Pacific Ocean.

The water sector is surging in the global market with high demand for water for drinking, industry and agriculture. Billions of dollars are being invested in the storage, purification and bottling of water, producing big profits.

A growing number of critics are frustrated by GE's investments in struggling airlines, because they say that the company is keeping airlines that should fold financially viable, and preventing much-needed industry consolidation.

General Electric Co. is considering making an acquisition bid for NIB Capital Bank N.V. of the Netherlands. The Dutch commercial and investment bank has $228 million in net income in 2004 and a market capitalization at more than $3 billion.

Jack Walsh of General Electric Co. met with officials of the Indian government in 1989 where the seeds of the software industry and outsourcing in India were born. General Electric Co. formed Gecis which opened its first call center in 1999 and has since sold 60 percent of its controlling interest.

Scott Hodes has had an atypical career as installation artists Christo and Jeanne-Claudes's lawyer.

General Electric has recently been spending money than usual in order to buy several companies, and investors hope that the investments will result in a return to high profit margins.

GE Consumer Finance seeks to capitalize on Russia's growing consumer credit market, and sees its acquisition of the country's leading Visa-issuer, DeltaBank, as its first step in achieving that goal. DeltaBank, which received its banking license in 1997, is owned by the private-equity firm Delta Capital Management.