GE Wins $1 Billion Order on Vietnam Airlines’ 787s: Dung

General Electric Co. (GE) won a $1 billion order to supply engines for Vietnam Airlines Corp.’s 787 Dreamliners, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said yesterday.

The deal will be signed next month at the East Asia Summit in Brunei, with U.S. President Barack Obama present, Dung said in an interview in New York City. 

“There has been very strong competition between GE and Rolls Royce but it was transparent and GE has won the bid,” Dung said. Read more

As Some Companies Turn to Health Exchanges, G.E. Seeks a New Path

CINCINNATI — Although the new federal health care law is designed to help people buying individual policies, even people with employer-provided policies are beginning to see changes in their coverage as companies rethink health care for their workers, discontinuing it in a few cases and redesigning it in many others.

They are motivated by a need to rein in health care costs, which continue to rise faster than overall inflation, but the federal health care law is also changing how some view their obligations to their employees. 

Some major firms, like Walgreen, the drugstore chain, are giving those who qualify money to buy insurance on a private health exchange. Aon Hewitt, a benefits consultant that will oversee health plans on Walgreen’s behalf, said 18 large employers had signed up so far, including Sears and Darden Restaurants. 

But here in Cincinnati, General Electric is taking the opposite approach. Read more

GE: Not Too Big to Grow

General Electric shares have lagged behind the industrial sector and the broad stock market for more than a decade. Now, they're poised to outperform. The company in coming quarters will deliver the two things investors want most: smaller financial operations and more growth. Shares (ticker: GE), at a recent $24, could rise more than 30% over two years to $32, while paying an annual dividend yield of 3.2%.

"We have the biggest backlog of new business in the company's history," Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt told Barron's in response to the too-big-to-grow question. "We're in industries that are growing much faster than local economies. And we have the best exposure to emerging markets of any company in the world." Read more