General Electric Company (GE)

Overview

The goal of our named executive officer compensation program is the same as our goal for operating the company—to create long-term value for our shareowners. Toward this goal, we have designed and implemented our compensation programs for our named executives to reward them for sustained financial and operating performance and leadership excellence, to align their interests with those of our shareowners and to encourage them to remain with the company for long and productive careers. Most of our compensation elements simultaneously fulfill one or more of our performance, alignment and retention objectives. These elements consist of salary and annual bonus, equity incentive compensation, a long-term performance program driven by the achievement of objective financial performance criteria, contingent earnings on deferred salary, retirement and other benefits. In deciding on the type and amount of compensation for each executive, we focus on both current pay and the opportunity for future compensation. We combine the compensation elements for each executive in a manner we believe optimizes the executive’s contribution to the company.

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