FAIRFIELD, Conn., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- GE achieved record results for
the third quarter of 2000 with broad-based strength across the company's
businesses, Chairman John F. Welch reported today.

    Specific highlights include:

    -- Revenues for the third quarter increased to a record $32.0 billion,
       18% above last year's quarter, reflecting continued growth from
       globalization and product services.

    -- Third-quarter earnings per share increased 19% to $.32, up from last
       year's $.27, and earnings increased 20% to $3.180 billion.  Both
       earnings per share and earnings were records for the quarter.

    -- Excluding the effects of a third-quarter retirement benefit provision
       associated with the new labor agreement, GE's third-quarter operating
       margin was 17.6% of sales, up from last year's 16.7%, reflecting
       increasing benefits from GE's focus on product services, Six Sigma
       quality and e-Business initiatives.  GE's reported third-quarter
       operating margin was 16.6%.

    -- GE's industrial businesses achieved revenue growth of 18% above third
       quarter 1999.  Operating profit for six of seven operating segments
       increased by double digits -- led by Power Systems, Medical Systems,
       Plastics and Aircraft Engines.

    -- GE Capital Services' third-quarter earnings rose to $1.478 billion, 17%
       above last year's $1.262 billion.  These record results reflect the
       globalization and diversity of GE Capital's businesses, with strong
       double-digit increases in its Specialized Financing, Consumer Services,
       Equipment Management and Mid-Market Financing segments.

    -- Cash generated from GE's operating activities during the first nine
       months was a record $9.9 billion, up 34% from last year's $7.4 billion.
       As part of the $22 billion share repurchase program, GE purchased
       $495 million of its stock during the third quarter to reach
       $17.0 billion -- 943 million shares--purchased since December 1994.

    "In addition to delivering record third-quarter results, GE's businesses
made aggressive moves to position themselves for strong future growth", Mr.
Welch said.

    Highlights of recent activities include:

    GE Power Systems (GEPS) continued to experience strong demand for power
generation equipment and services.  Orders for the quarter were up 90% to
$7.3 billion.  Power Systems continued to win the majority of the orders for
heavy-duty gas turbines in the United States with orders more than double the
third quarter 1999 level.  Demand for fully packaged 25-to-60 megawatt gas
turbines at S&S Energy Products continued to build with orders up more than
three-fold from the 1999 quarter.  Power Systems added $1.2 billion in new
long-term service agreements in the quarter bringing the total commitments for
these long-term contracts to $12.2 billion.  GEPS continued redefining the
large portable power market with the first five TM2500 portable power plants
launched this summer at Commonwealth Edison being shipped to Cork, Ireland,
where they will supply up to 110 megawatts of temporary winter peaking
capacity.  GEPS acquired Smallworldwide, a UK-based developer of software
solutions for spatial mapping of networks.
    GE Aircraft Engines continued to win the majority of the world's orders
for airline jet engines, including more than $2 billion in commercial engine
wins at the Farnborough Air Show and significant orders for the longer-range
Boeing 777 aircraft from ILFC, ANA and Air France.  Lockheed Martin selected
GE engines for the U.S. Air Force C-5 modernization program with a potential
value in excess of $2.5 billion.  GE Engine Services reported nearly
$1 billion in new multi-year service contracts with several airlines including
Qantas, Ansett/Air New Zealand and Japan Air Lines.
    GE Capital took broad-based actions to drive future growth.  GE Americom
launched its GE-7 satellite, reinforcing its position as the number one
provider of satellite services in North America.   Penske truck leasing and
rental business acquired Rentway, Ltd., expanding Penske's North American
service network and positioning Penske as the leading Canadian truck leasing
and rental business.  GE Capital Aviation Services and GE Equity announced a
strategic investment in Carmen Systems, a worldwide leader in developing
solutions for airlines to optimize the use of aircraft and crews.  GE Capital
formed a joint venture, Japan Equity Capital Co. Ltd., with Sumitomo Corp. and
Daiwa Securities to manage a private equity fund in Japan.
    GE Medical Systems (GEMS) completed three acquisitions to enhance its
technical position and growth.  Magnex will expand GEMS performance in the
fast-growth high-field MR market;  MicroMedical increases GE's presence in
cardiovascular information systems; and Access Medical is the industry's
largest multi-vendor used equipment business.  GEMS e-Business momentum
continues to build with online orders surpassing $1 billion year-to-date, and
more than 650 diagnostic units with Internet connectivity.
    GE Transportation Systems (GETS) acquired Harmon Industries, Incorporated.
Harmon's wide range of railroad and transit signaling, wayside and control
products and systems complement GETS service offerings.  GETS was awarded a
Canadian Pacific Railway contract to service more than 300 General Motors' EMD
locomotives.  GETS received locomotive orders for 60 U.S. units from Amtrak
and 10 units from Adtranz in Europe.
    NBC garnered the most Emmy nominations and awards for the sixth
consecutive year.   The West Wing and Will & Grace won the best drama and
comedy series, respectively.  The West Wing broke the all-time record for Emmy
wins by any series in a single season.  NBC's Today Show in Sydney had two of
its top ten most watched weeks in the 49-year history of the show.  NBC's
Today Show, Nightly News and Tonight Show With Jay Leno continue to win their
time periods finishing the quarter #1.  CNBC Business Day continued its strong
ratings performance beating CNN for the fourth consecutive quarter.  NBC's
Olympic success was broad-based with coverage on NBC reaching 185 million
Americans during its 17 days of coverage and boosted ratings for the Today
Show 25%, CNBC 88% and MSNBC 181%.  NBC Olympics.com had 43 million page views
averaging 23 minutes per visitor.  NBC successfully negotiated long-term cable
extension deals with the vast majority of U.S. cable system operators and now
has agreements for CNBC and MSNBC Olympic cable distribution through 2008.
    GE Plastics completed the acquisition of Cadillac Plastics, a global
distributor of plastic shapes including sheet, film, tube, rod and fabricated
parts.  This addition expands its product offering and worldwide distribution
network.  Plastics also announced the opening of two new compounding plants in
Shanghai, China, and Bangkok, Thailand, to serve its growing Asian customer
base in the business equipment, automotive and optical media markets.
    GE Appliances registered significant market share gains from product and
distribution moves.  New product introductions in the quarter were led by the
successful launch of Wizard(TM), the electronically controlled clothes care
system, the Advantium(TM) built-in wall oven, and the Aquarius(TM) front-
loading automatic washing machine.  In August, Wal-Mart, the world's largest
retailer, announced that it would begin selling a full line of GE-branded
major appliances.
    GE Industrial Systems continued to expand its portfolio of product
offerings through the acquisitions of the German company Graesslin,
specializing in time switches, and a majority interest in Instrument
Transformers Inc., a leading manufacturer of indoor-type instrument
transformers for the industrial market.

    Mr. Welch concluded: "The record results for the third quarter once again
demonstrate the ability of GE's diverse mix of leading global businesses to
deliver top-line growth, increased margins and strong cash generation.  The
combination of global growth, expansion of our product services activities,
rapid introduction of new products, our Six Sigma quality initiative and our
e-Business initiatives position GE to deliver another year of record
performance in 2000.   We are comfortable with the First Call analysts'
consensus estimate of $1.27 per share for 2000."

    GE (GE) is a diversified services, technology and manufacturing company
with a commitment to achieving customer success and worldwide leadership in
each of its businesses.  For more information, visit the company's Web site at
http://www.ge.com/.

    Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
    This document includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These
statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to
uncertainty and changes in circumstances.  Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic,
business, competitive market and regulatory factors.  More detailed
information about those factors is contained in GE's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.


    GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    All amounts except per-share earnings are in millions of U.S. dollars.

                                 THIRD QUARTER             NINE MONTHS ENDED
                                                           SEPTEMBER 30, 2000

                             2000      1999    V%       2000      1999     V%
    Revenues              $32,014   $27,200    18    $94,872   $78,775     20

    Earnings               $3,180   $ 2,653    20     $9,150    $7,628     20

    Per-Share Earnings
     - diluted              $0.32     $0.27    19      $0.91     $0.76     20
     - basic                $0.32     $0.27    19      $0.93     $0.78     19

    Segment Information
                             2000      1999    V%       2000      1999     V%
    Revenues
    Aircraft Engines       $2,580    $2,659   (3)     $7,770    $7,727      1
    Appliances              1,495     1,449     3      4,451     4,126      8
    NBC                     1,895     1,076    76      5,244     4,038     30
    Industrial Products
     and Systems            2,777     2,802   (1)      8,599     8,226      5
    Plastics                1,970     1,690    17      5,845     5,046     16
    Power Systems           3,521     2,464    43     10,469     6,507     61
    Technical Products
     and Services           1,902     1,601    19      5,556     4,721     18
    GE Capital Services    16,444    14,002    17     48,595    39,763     22

    Segment profit
    Aircraft Engines          614       536    15      1,781     1,527     17
    Appliances                159       137    16        503       475      6
    NBC                       292       265    10      1,321     1,143     16
    Industrial Products
     and Systems              497       491     1      1,614     1,424     13
    Plastics                  487       390    25      1,443     1,255     15
    Power Systems             670       397    69      1,875     1,104     70
    Technical Products
     and Services             439       316    39      1,192       912     31
    GE Capital Services
     net earnings           1,478     1,262    17      3,965     3,386     17

SOURCE  General Electric Company