Jack Welch
Former CEO and ex-chairman
General Electric
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» Full text of the Sept. 13 interview
"His contribution will be tarnished by the public airing of a retirement package that makes him seem greedy. ... But GE shareholders might have hoped they were getting more for their money than a succession of bad headlines. Business still needs leaders with Mr. Welch's 'lunatic' devotion to high standards of performance, but a little more attention to modesty and decorum also wouldn't hurt." -- Wall Street Journal
Viewed as a corporate deity as recently as two weeks ago, Welch has turned into a lightning rod for media outrage since The New York Times recently published a piece detailing his retirement compensation, as outlined in divorce papers: unlimited use of corporate jets; a Manhattan apartment and associated expenses, such as food, laundry and toiletries; courtside seats for basketball and tennis; satellite TV at his houses; occasional free meals at a restaurant; and a consulting contract. The perception of Welch has gone from being the Uber CEO to the latest symbol of executive excess and corporate governance gone awry.
Welch's compensation has been abundant by any standard. He made up to $16 million per year as GE's chief executive, and has a pension plan that pays him $9 million. Welch's net worth has been estimated at $900 million.
But nearly lost in all the outcry is the fact that under Welch's stewardship, GE became one of the greatest wealth creation machines ever. The stock price multiplied almost thirty-fold and the company's market capitalization increased by hundreds of billions of dollars as GE became the ultimate blue chip investment.
Welch streamlined a corporate conglomerate that is among the market leaders for nearly every industry in which it competes, from electric appliances to nuclear power plants to financing to big media. Welch proteges have gone on to top posts at other companies such as 3M, and the management methods and cost-control ideas of Welch's GE have often been held up as a model for other companies to follow.
Welch was born in Salem in 1936. He received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1957, and graduate degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1960.
In 1960, Mr. Welch joined GE as a chemical engineer for its Plastics division in Pittsfield, Mass. He was elected the company's youngest vice president in 1972 and was named vice chairman in 1979. He became chairman and CEO in April 1981 and retired in September 2001, to be followed by his hand-picked successor, Jeffrey Immeldt. Welch is still a consultant to FORTUNE 500 executives.
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