Articles

The story behind General Electric (GE) begins in the late 1880s and involves 2 of

America’s most famous business personalities: inventor Thomas Edison and banker John Pierpont (JP) Morgan.

In 1889, Edison had his hands in all things electricity and -- in an obnoxious move to remind everyone of it -- had stamped his name on various ventures:

• Edison Lamp Company: A lamp manufacturer.
• Edison Machine Works: A manufacturer of dynamos and electric motors.
• Bergmann & Company: A manufacturer of lighting fixtures and sockets.
• Edison Electric Light Company: A patent holding company for Edison’s light experiments.

Edison Electric was actually backed by the Vanderbilt family and Drexel, Morgan & Co., a bank co-founded by JP Morgan (which today exists as… drumroll… JPMorgan Chase).

Morgan helped Edison merge all these companies into one corporate entity -- “Edison General Electric Company” -- in April 1889.

The rest is history.