GE investors gather in Rio de Janiero, Brazil today to hear about the company’s global outlook and long-term global growth plans from Vice Chairman John Rice. Ahead of the meeting, Rice confirmed GE’s 2012 outlook and said it expects continuing double digit revenue growth in emerging economies across the globe, from the “BRICs”—Brazil, Russia, India and China—which have seen a torrid pace of growth over the last decade—to the next generation of developing countries, which have just recently started to take off. Altogether, GE has doubled revenues in 27 countries in the last five years, and global revenue has grown to more than 55% of total industrial revenue. Additionally, 66% of GE’s record $200 billion backlog of orders, of everything from gas turbines to jet engines, comes from global markets, with over half coming from the high-growth regions. That growth and demand overseas has also translated into American jobs: since 2009, GE has announced plans to create 13,500 jobs in the U.S. and is currently building 16 new plants here. Just last month, GE announced the opening of the first new factory opened at historic Appliance Park, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 50 years.
In the video below, Rice discusses global growth and how it helps drive GE’s American manufacturing expansion.
