John Francis Welch Jr. (November 19, 1935 – March 1, 2020) was an American business executive. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001. During his 20-year tenure, GE's market value grew from $14 billion to $600 billion, and he has frequently been cited as one of the greatest chief executives of the twentieth century.
Under Welch, GE acquired the RCA Corporation in 1986 and expanded aggressively into financial services through GE Capital, which came to account for 40% of the company's revenue. He also restructured GE around a philosophy that each of its business units must rank first or second in its market, shedding those that did not meet that standard. By the end of his tenure GE was the most valuable company in the world.
In later years, Welch's practices and legacy have drawn scrutiny from historians and journalists, particularly regarding his transformation of GE into a company heavily dependent on financial services. GE Capital collapsed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and GE was eventually broken into three separate companies. Additionally, his emphasis on short-term financial performance over long-term investment has been cited as having had a lasting effect on American corporate culture, including at companies such as Amazon.
When Welch retired from GE, he received a severance payment of $417 million; at that time this was the largest such payment in business history. In 2006, Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million.
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