Industrial conglomerate GE has reached a deal to sell its 130-year-old lighting business to smart home technology developer Savant Systems. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
GE said the sale of its GE Lighting division would enable the firm to become a more focused industrial company.
GE Lighting's roots date back to the founder of GE, Thomas Edison. But in recent years, GE has been divesting operations as it strives to focus more closely on infrastructure technologies like power generation, aerospace, and healthcare.
GE at one point in 2018 said it might spin off its GE Healthcare business, but those plans appear to have been shelved, in particular after GE's announcement in 2019 that it would sell its BioPharma business to Danaher. That deal was completed in March 2020.
With the sale of GE Lighting, GE will have jettisoned the last of its operations that manufacture consumer products, according to an article in Barron's. Many GE-labeled products like dishwashers are actually sold under license by other manufacturers, according to the story.
