General Electric is selling its biopharma business to Danaher Corp. for $21.4 billion as it continues to sell off chunks of a once sprawling conglomerate, per the AP. The biopharma unit, part of GE Life Sciences, generated revenue of about $3 billion last year. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports it has been one of GE's fastest-growing businesses. GE has shrunk considerably since becoming entangled in the financial crisis a decade ago and is seeking to divest even more of its businesses. Last fall, GE sold part of its Healthcare Equipment Finance business to TIAA Bank and agreed to sell its Current lighting division to American Industrial Partners, a private equity firm.
In October, the company slashed its quarterly dividend and announced it was restructuring its power business shortly after ousting CEO John Flannery, who lasted only about a year in the job. New CEO Larry Culp says GE needed to simplify its business structure even more. GE said this month that it would downsize its world headquarters in Boston and return $87 million in incentives it received from Massachusetts for moving from Connecticut three years ago. Danaher, a medical technology company based in DC, said GE's biopharma segment will operate as a separate company within Danaher's $6.5 billion Life Sciences division.
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