a call with analysts today, ceo and chairman john flannery said he is seriously considering it. >> as i look at the company continuing to evolve along the continuum, i believe there could be different structures that could achieve all of those objectives and that we need to examine those. i would categorize it as an examination of options and it is the kind of thing that could result in many many different permutatio including separately traded assets really in any one of your units if that's what made sense. >> re he helm last summer he repeatedly sai eve is on the table as he tries to turn the company around. today marks the first time he said a total breakup is entirely possible. power, aeration, and health care potentially on tap to be spun out. the comments coming on the heels ge capital will inclur a $6 ng billion charge for legacy capital in the fourth quarter. and must include $15 billion over the next years. sources say more details on a prospective breakup could come this spring. while it has not been fully decided whether such a move will actually occur the possibility mark

in terms of what john flannery walked into, this is the biggest mess since tycho international over 15 years ago and save the ticker symbol. >> since taking over, john flannery has already cut $1.5 billion of costs with plans to cut more this year. he has said repeatedly that everything is on the table, including a possible breakup. but investigators looking for more clarity on that long term strategy didn't get it today. >> we have a team dedicated to considering all the details, and looking at the options that will deliver the best value for your shareholders and the most attractive jobs for our employees. the truly enduring strength of ge lies in our people. there will be a ge in the future, but it will look different than it does today. >> other key takeaways, industrial cash flow for the quarter and the year were better than expected. and ge did reaffirm its 2018 earnings and free cash flow guidance. welcome news for analysts who were bracing for a vision lower. the health care and aviation segments grew, and baker hughes, the oil services firm in which ge is a major stake holder

john flannery had floated the idea before and said tuesday that g.e. is quote looking aggressively at many permutations the story is big if true and as they say we'll keep an eye on it but to give you a sense of how big it is archie's ashley banks joins us to explain what a breakup of this mega corporation would mean and how all these pieces of the puzzle could be put together or apart actually well barred wall street is now scrambling to evaluate the standalone value of g.e.'s visit says now over the last year the company's stock has been the worst performing on the dow jones industrial average according to fact set that's more than a forty percent decline g.e. owns a slew of businesses g.e. capital he capital evasions services g.e. energy financial services g.e. real estate g.e. oil and gas and many others although industrial analyst brian ilagan berg says the g.e.'s healthcare and aviation units are doing well in general electric will likely break up as a business as starting as early as the spring there's a porsche l. shareholder returns and the pa

john flannery had floated the idea before and said tuesday that g.e. is quote looking aggressively at many permutations the story is big if true and as they say we'll keep an eye on it but to give you a sense of how big it is archie's ashley banks joins us to explain what a breakup of this mega corporation would mean and how all these pieces of the puzzle could be put together or apart actually well barred wall street is now scrambling to evaluate the standalone value of g.e.'s visit says now over the last year the company's stock has been the worst performing on the dow jones industrial average according to fact set that's more than a forty percent decline g.e. owns a slew of businesses g.e. capital capital levy a chanst services g.e. energy financial services g.e. real estate g.e. oil and gas and many others although industrial analyst brian ilagan berg says the g.e.'s healthcare and aviation units are doing well in general electric will likely break up as a business as starting as early as the spring is a portion of shareholder returns and the past

ceo john flannery is not ruling out a separation of the different units after disclosing a $6 billioner-tax charge with its legacy business. julia: what'd you miss? the white house press conference is going on. the president was examined last week, and the doctor is about to take the podium. he is being introduced by sarah huckabee sanders. ms. sanders: donald trump's first exam as president of the united states, having the opportunity to analyze the results and discuss with his patients, he will provide us with his considered assessment of the president's medical theess for duty now and for remainder of his term and for office. with regard to friday's examination, knowing the doctor, i am confident he practiced good medicine. however, it would be an error to view the exam and dr. jackson's isolated when it is an ongoing process. far more important to a meaningful assessment to the president's assessment is the doctors evaluation, , andvations, conversations more during the remaining 360 four days of the year. dr. jackson has been doing exactly that from the moment donald j. trump was

john flannery said we are looking aggressively as the best structure or structures for our portfolio to maximize the potential of our businesses the company is also expected to contribute fifteen billion dollars over the next seven years to shore up the portfolios reservoir reserves excuse me j.p. morgan comment it saying this to us is not about offensive value creation and more an acknowledgement that the problems for crude the company for moving forward as previously planned even a few months ago and cullen an alleged plot i'm confident that quote there is no quick fix for g.e. and the stock remains that biased to the downside and lag in bird says it would take g.e. c.e.o. philander eighty five years to turn the company around after cutting g.e.'s dividend and restructuring its units bart thank you ashley archie america correspondent actually banks and we'll have more on this coming up to the great big story thomas edison started this company so much to get to thank you actually wrote them. two weeks into the new year now it was about the time that people all around the country are

missing its fourth quarter results of weakness and power division its cash flow is improving this is john flanneryn the conference call talking about some of the early challenges that the company has faced >> you heard a lot from us since i came ceo in august i recognize the news we share in that time, power and insurance have been tough. we have moved to tackle the issues our responsibility is to reshape this company and ensure that ge matters as much in the next century as it has in the past. >> they did say we expect more challenges to continue at least for power >> right, the relevance of ge is largely going to be aerospace and power is a disaster. sometimes you wonder whether what did they do to make you feel that power is good. you know who seems to be as interested as that as i am sec, investigation and how they book that revenue which i think some of us realize had to happen the sec is going to pursue individuals as well as the company. it is behind mr. flynn and had nothing to do with him >> tough is the least of the words of what he may have used for his tenure and, dealt with -- well, d

. >> what i do know is going on inside the company is flannery, john flannery, doing a top-to-bottom s where i think investors missing the boat on this thing. he is looking at all scenarios including a major breakup of ge. what i understand flannery is looking at, one of the scenarios, if he does go there, this is the one thing i think analysts say is going to boost the stock, is to break up the company into various other companies. liz: he broke it. that was charlie gasparino, but in october, all the way back last year, breaking it right here on "countdown," the general electric was considering cracking up the company. new ceo john flannery confirming the breakup is on the table. but what's got to be happening under the table? charlie, palace intrigue like "game of thrones." >> this is the end of ge as we know it. and excuse me, a great guest to have on would be obviously jack welch to think about what he said about the legacy, when you talk to company insiders, they will tell you that mr. flannery, the ceo may have no other choice but to do this breakup, ending ge as we know it. wha

john flannery saying he is seriously considering a breakup of the blue chip company >> as i look at thepany and continue to evolve along this continuum, i believel there could be different structures that can achieve all of those objectives, and that we need to examine those. so i don't -- you know, i would categorize it as an examination of options and it's the kind of thing that could result in, you know, many, many different permutations, including separately traded assetsings really in any one of our units if that's what made sense. >> while flannery has stressed every option is on the table, he has done that before, those comments mark the first time he has explicitly said that ge, including power, aviation and health care could be spun out into separately traded assets. flannery also saying that the quote real core approach here is to make sure these businesses are flourish in the decades ahead. all that said, a breakup has not been fully decided those sources say the company is likely seen as embracing the idea an update on this is likely in the spring meantime, q 4 earnings come

ge's ceo john flannery said ge is looking aggressively at spinning off pieces of the company.lled it an examination of options. ge is already eliminating thousands of jobs and cutting $3.5 billion in costs. >>> the swiss candy maker nestle is selling its u.s. candy business to italy's ferrero for about $3 billion. ferrero, the maker of nutella will take over 20 nestle brands including butter finger, baby ruth, and crunch bars. they also own purina cat chow and nescafe. >>> mcdonald's wants to go totally green. it wants to have its packages coming from renewable and recyclable materials available. currently half of its packages comes from sustainable sources. anne-marie. >> sounds like a good idea when you consider what good business mcdonald's does. it could really make a difference. thank you so much, hena. >>> still ahead, the high-flying action. the drastic measure a father took in order to find his missing son. easure a father took in order to find his missing son. have time for a cracked windshield. that's why at safelite, we'll show you exactly when we'll be there. with

john flannery had floated the idea before and said tuesday that g.e. is quote looking aggressively at many permutations this story is big if true and as they say we'll keep an eye on it but to give you a sense of how big it is archie's ashley banks joins us to explain what a breakup of this mega corporation would mean and how all these pieces of the puzzle could be put together or apart actually well bardot all three it is now scrambling to evaluate the standalone value of g.e.'s visit says now over the last year the company's stock has been the worst performing on the dow jones industrial average according to fact that that's more than a forty percent decline g.e. owns a slew of business as capital.

chief executive john flannery called the charge deeply disappointing.eneral motors has a surprise for wall street. the biggest automaker in the u.s. has forecast steady earnings for this year. what analysts predicted profit would fall. p two capital partners have -- which offers a broad range of gift cards and other prepaid products. the price three $.5 billion in cash. black hawk warned last year that competitive pressures in the u.s. would hurt sales. that's your latest bloomberg business flash. we are heading for the close of trading. here's a look at some of the big gainers and the big decliners in the stoxx 600 today. this is bloomberg. ♪ you will u.s.o sales after the diesel emissions scandal. they spoke to david westin at the north american international auto show in detroit. >> there's a big shift in the past year in the suv market. people keep forgetting that basically still there is a huge market for sedans in this country. loyale a very strong and -- younger generation that have a lot of positive emotions a in the nextt orientation is family

john flannery talked about a reset, is this inevitable?> clearly disappointing a lot of investors, let's go to the chart. ge is under pressure as they announced the $6.2 billion surprise, the runoff from this portfolio of insurance related insurance care investment and it really was a turning point because now we have the ceos talking about weighing options for have to breakup, have spinning a part of the company, if you look at the bigger picture chart for ge, you can see that this has really been under and come down very hard in the recent months and of course, has the new ceo pledges to turn things around, he is saying ok, fresh start, now i will turn things around and there are some analysts warning that there may be more bad news ahead from ge and brace yourselves, we shall see. su keenan there. trade tensions between the u.s. and china have surfaced again but president from calling china's later to tell him a growing deficit is not sustainable, joining us now from washington is just subject. the tcu, the president express and that th

john flannery and the 20 billion-dollar cost-cutting mission could be about to get a whole lot biggerhe had anticipated or thought. charlie is breaking it next. building a website in under an hour is easy with gocentral... ...from godaddy! in fact, 68% of people who have built their... ...website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. build a better website - in under an hour. with gocentral from godaddy. yes 2018 is just a few days but ge had been the top performing component in the first week of 2018 but now not so much. they are making news. charlie guess brain is breaking. so they are talking about selling $20 billion of assets over the next two years. but we are getting some bankers inside the company they are actually talking bigger numbers they are talking something about $25 billion over the next couple of years of assets. that will be three years of asset sales. i don't and there really come to terms with what they're doing there. over the next three years equaling something like $25 billion. it will surpass the number they believe it is going to surpass t

vonnie: will john flannery be forced to take the decision to break up the company? is something i have been calling for for quite a long time. maybe it's not as unpalatable as you might think. we are in an environment where industrial companies are breaking up. we want simpler companies that have managementwe are in an enve industrial companies are breaking up. teams that can be more reactive to shift in market trend. company ak at ge as a lot of its problems have been in .il and gas markets to industries where they invested significantly through acquisitions but clearly in retrospect was misguided. the parts of the business that are doing ok our aerospace and health care and those are strong businesses with good profit margins that are growing. do you really need to be in all of those at once or do you want to stick to the good parts and see what you can do with the parts that are left desirable? mark: how much financial flexibility does ge have right now? >> not a lot. they had to cut their dividend because they had to admit their businesses do not generate enough

what we pointed out to were the comments from the chairman john flannery, saying all options are on the table including breaking this company up into a separate part and as i reported, that's something that advisers have been wonderirking diligently it seems more likely enough to break up some of ge. you can characterize it in different ways aviation or power is separated or one business is separated out. it is unclear at this point as you may have imagined and a lot of technical issues around in terms of figuring out what makes the most sense but, they're working on it and the status quo clearly is not an option, jim. the question is do you create value which at the -- is what flannery is focused on above all else no matter where it takes him. >> david, what do you hear from the three different divisions? >> i have not heard much >> the liability the question is, are there more liabilities of this ge capital legacy and assets. i hear no and this is a clean house. >> we heard it how many times. david, it is an i fog everywhere there are multiple buyers for some of these divisions but it

john flannery's fault. he has only been in the job since august.e has been there, we have had the bad news in october, the bad news in november, and this again. if you are an investor, you have to say, when is it going to end in terms of nasty surprises? shery: how bad is this particular bad news? we saw the church coming. brooke: -- we saw the charge coming. beoke: they said they would reviewing their insurances. i not think anyone was prepared for a charge this magnitude -- of this magnitude. withhold going to dividends from ge capital to the parent company. that was $3 billion. 6.2 billion dollars, we are looking at a higher number here. they are going to be building up their reserves to $15 billion over the course of the next seven years. vonnie: what are street analysts and its tree saying privately about a breakup? will it happen soon? who will die the assets? -- by the assets? brooke: i think this idea has grown. it is becoming increasingly clear that the previous management team to not have a handle on all the bits and pieces of ge. it is n

this after comments from the new ceo, john flannery, in a conference call related to charges the companyg related to insurance liabilities and long-term care going well beyond that in a conversation with analysts this morning and taking about onion going body of work involving his continued review of the company and the issues that its dealing with and saying that as he looks at it and continues to evolve his thinking, he thinks there could be different structures that can achieve the objectives they're seeking, and they will be examined. don't know i would categorize it as an examination of options it's the kind of thing that could result in many perm yu tagss including separately traded assets really in any one of our units if that's what made sense. that's certainly captured a number of people's attention this morning and after some brief conversations with people close to ge, this very well could be the moment in which its ceo has said we are going to break this company up into three constituent parts at this point being health care, aviation and power. which of them to be spun first

it looks like investors will give john flannery the benefit of the doubt and say that they will be ables situation around. the stock will likely climb higher. below that it could get pretty ugly. it will be very important to see what happens over the fourth quarter report. this sunday will mark the end of donald trump's first year as president and all week long bloomberg is going to be taking a look back at the issues confronting the administration. today it's foreign relations and ris.elcome bill fa let's start with foreign relations. at the top of the list now is north korea. including rex tillerson talking about people in a passenger airliner seeing a missile launch. >> north korea dominated president trump's foreign-policy innda like no other issue 2017. in 2018 it is still at the top of the pile. rex tillerson is at a meeting in vancouver with allied nations to talk about what more can be done to sanction north korea. he mentioned that late november in partt that was seen by passengers on a commercial airline flight from san francisco to hong kong. be a threat and priority for the

but definitely going to be a challenge for the future >> and john flannery on the call says there will in the future, but it will look different than today, they're considering all of the details and options for the company, that everything is on the table. what are your expectations are we going to see a full break up of ge >> seems to be increasingly likely every time he says that that's what's up in the air, that's what drives me crazy about the stock. we need at analysts to have direction. are they breaking up the company. he needs a strategy and stick to it when he first had restructuring announcement in november said we will sell off $20 billion in assets, seems like maybe power is on the table. hard to value a company when you don't know what direction it is going in. >> looking at shares of ge, they're down 3%. where do you stand on this >> evaluating industrial multiple, certainly below other conglomerate peers but what does it look like in a couple of years, how do they track on restructuring, hit financial targets and give investors confidence these are questions up in the a

all of this is not john flannery's fault, obviously, he has only been in this job since august, but wed the bad news in october, the bad news in november, and if you are an investor you have to be saying, when is it going to end in terms of nasty surprises? >> apple will return hundreds of billions of dollars in overseas cash to the united states. in a statement out wednesday, the company says it will pay $38 billion in repatriation tax. apple also claims that investing tens of billions in domestic jobs, manufacturing, and data centers in the coming years and give employees a $2500 bonus. >> 20,000 jobs is quite good news from a political perspective, but given they have 84,000 employees already, that's quite a big bump. what is interesting to me is if you really look at the numbers, the big number they want everybody to talk about is $350 billion in the u.s. over the next five years. the odds are they were going to spend most of that money already. the new money is $38 million for the tax bill and $30 billion -- $38 billion spent on the tax bill and $30 billion spent on the u.s. if yo

form counsel to assistant attorney general for national security and john flannery aba former federalcutor for the southern district of new york. thank you for coming on. john, multiple sources tell cnn tonight that close friends and advisers of president trump are warning him against sitting down for of an interview with the special counsel. what are they afraid of. >> they're afraid of a man, trump tourettes, i suppose and mixture of admissions and fancy and him stumbling over himself. but this is a bad game. i mean seneca said fate leads you to destiny or drags to you it. he is going to end up invoking the fifth amendment. starr served clinton with a subpoena. that's what i imagine mueller will do when he needs that information. it's going to be a disaster for trump. >> carrie, a source from the legal team says trump got a little ahead of himself in his comments yesterday in he had yesterday's news conference about whether he would meet with the special counsel team in the russia investigation. who is the has the upper hand, trump or mueller? >> well i think the special counsel has

let's bring in laura coats, ken cuccinelli and john flannery. good to have all of you on. thanks so much. laura, you first. cnn is learning tonight that the president's personal attorney, michael cohen, has filed a defamation suit against buzzfeed for publishing the dossier. buzzfeed says, it's the subject of active investigations by congress and intelligence agencies. what, if any, impact could that have the investigation? >> this is a very strong claim. in the sense that donald trump is a public figure. and the reason they had an extensive citation about all the people who have quoted their work is because you have to show actual malice and uncorroborated statements and the reckless disregard for the truth if it's published. and if you had some reason to believe it was not truthful, you you have to pay the piper. here with all the corroboration, and the mention of other intense agencies, really helps their argument, they had a first amendment right to write this. in terms of the investigation, you are seeing a pattern here where the president of the united states is tryi

is general electric: cry for help it's a rolling train wreck of expensive blunders in november john flannerygh losses in the power unit were unacceptable. on tuesday, ge quantified new after tax losses at ge capital at $6 billion, leaving flannery groping for new adjectives, he settled for deeply disappointing. from bad to worse. >> i spent so much time on the phone with so many people talking about this company yesterday that my battery died two times. stock ended the day down 3% despite these headlines and comments from ceo flannery that, you know, the potential for a breakup is on the table, including in the core industrial businesses of aviation, healthcare and power you would expect that to be welcomed news on the street. not so much. two things at play the first thing is they have pension obligations, more than $31 billion. they have all these other liabilities including a surprise $15 billion worth of reserves that need to be built up over the next seven years that was five times greater than the street was expecting everybody is going can they actually break this company apart? can t

john flannery is weighing a possible breakup of the company after a $6.2 billion charge related to aanalysts, flannery pledge to separate ge's primary businesses of aviation, power generation, and health care into publicly traded companies. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. haidi: thank you for that. let's look at bats on a rising yen and a flattening u.s. yield curve. by the boj and fed support these trades? kathleen hays joins us now from new york. a sudden move by currency longrs going relentlessly on the yen come how does the boj turn this into a moneymaker? >> it better start tapering. it is hinting that is the direction they are leaning in. i would not bet on that yet. a terrific story you can find in the bloomberg lace this out so well. that last week on jenny where he nine, the boj cut its long bond purchases of 10-20 five year debt with maturity longer than 25 years with ¥10 billion for each category, a small allowed, but people are saying the fed is raising rates and the ecb is removi

. >> this is a report and you have to wait to see what john flannery says.has got the tailwind because it's become a bit of an oil company, oil company with a healthcare kicker. >> for now, until they sell baker hughes. >> okay. >> and then you have power gen and unless you see 4%, 5% gdp growth next year, if you see, that power gen will come back. if you do not see that kind of growth in gdp power gen will not come back and at 75% of their ebitda big >> right now here ge, is it a buy yet or no? jim, you made the argument no. >> i want to see what he says. i just want to see what he says because tuce is saying the cash flow is far worse. really, i wrote it down because i believed what jim immelt said. we all know as portfolio managers, if the ceo says it's great that means nothing if you think it's great it's on you. i got it wrong but i do want to see what he says about the break-up. >> pete? >> the one thing that stood out about all these notes and i'll get back to ge every single one of them mentioned one thing, tax reform not being prices in and revision

ceo john flannery said it are moving quickly to address their problems.h is the number one focus, and they see more opportunities for cost reduction in their power unit so this is where things get interesting because we looked at the revenue coming from power some of which is the number one source of revenue that has been declining in the fourth quarter versus the fourth quarter the previous year, but then the aviation unit, which is the number two source of revenue, has been steady at about $7.2 billion so they are in the middle of that $20 billion divest your and looking for areas that can cut costs. vonnie: we have the $6.2 billion one-time charge and an sec investigation. taylor: here is what we know so far. the shares did. there gains in losing territory a limit. they will take a $6.2 billion charge related to an old insurance business that they are fully cooperating with the probe. to be fair, the cfo jimmy miller on the call said she is not overly concerned about the issues currently under scrutiny. vonnie: she would say that. she is the cfo. taylo

legal commentator ken cuccinelli and john flannery. thank you both for being here except for phil mudd. i'm paying you back for what you said on the break, phil. steve bannon has struck a deal with special counsel robert mueller and will not be testifying before a grand jury. instead he'll be voluntarily speaking to mueller's investigators. from a practical standpoint, ken, what is the difference here? >> from a practical standpoint, there is very little difference. this is not at all surprising. you know, if they have fbi agents present and steve bannon were to lie, that's a felony. if you're in front of a grand jury and you were to lie, that's a felony. one of the ways it can play out in person is more conversational. it's a little more stilted in front of a grand jury, and if you are taking the deposition, if you're interviewing the witness, you want to be in a conversation. you want to engage in back and forth. so there is some utility to this format on mueller's side. on bannon's side, frankly, it's just more comfortable. you don'

let's bring in laura coats, ken cuccinelli and john flannery. good to have all of you on. much. laura, you

investors saw, that started trading up the stock before john flannery, ceo said the securities and exchangeaunched an investigation into the charge we're talking about. where did it come from? the sec wants to know why it was a major surprise to investors and to the company and have launched investigation. now here's what we've been doing, looking at ge's legal woes. it goes beyond, this we should add. this is a problem for investors. what did we mean beyond this? they're bracing for onslaught of class action and shareholder lawsuits. so far two class-action lawsuits filed, they name individuals in there including jeff immelt, the former ceo which i'll get back to, and the current management, but basically saying mismanagement of the company, you gave investors the wrong guidance, and the guidance didn't come out as it should come out, therefore, we think you're liable and we're suing you. company has traditionally said when we give guidance, these are forward looking predictions, they're just opinions, don't take it to the bank, but you know, the legal woes are mounting. here's the interes

take a listen to chairman and ceo john flannery on that call earlier speaking specifically about the of breaking up ge >> as i look at the company and continue to evolve along this continuum, i believe there could be different structures that can achieve all of those objectives and that we need to examine those. i don't -- i would categorize it as an examination of options and it's kind of thing that could result in, you know, many, many different permtations including separately sprayed separately traded assets in any one of our units if that's what made sense >> you heard it there. any one of our units but really what i'm told by people familiar with this situation who are close to the company is this is begun the process that could culminate as soon as the spring with an announcement that ge will, in fact, pursue a split. how that will be done, what that will involve, of course, remains to be seen and certainly there are many technical issues, whether it relates to pension or taxes that will have to be dealt with but you could end up and in fact i'm told likely to end up with pote

conference call, to discuss what the future holds for these insurance assets, chairman and ceo john flannery said this. >> as i look at the company and continue to evolve, along this continuum, i believe there could be different structures that can achieve all of those objectives. and that we need to examine those. so i don't, you know, i would categorize it as an examination of options and it's the kind of thing that could result in many, many different permutations including separately trade d assets reall in any one of our units if that's what made sense >> talking really at this point about three units. of course they'll remain the troubled power unit. aviation and health care those are the three bulwarks of what ge is they have baker hughes in which they have 62.5%. that's already its publicly traded entity. what i'm hearing is that that was not of course just a sudden decision to discuss that it's part of a carefully laid out plan that very well could result in an announcement this spring that indicates the company's plan to break itself apart. now there's a lot of technical issues tha

the company 's been hit by a massive $11 billion charge for its legacy reinsurance business ceo john flannery had to admit he's renewing talks to break up the shrinking conglomerate which is something our own charlie gasparino had predicted back in october. here is what it is so let's at least look at the positive and it was merck the pharma giant announcing its lung cancer drug keytruda, was part of a combination trial along with two other chemotherapy drugs and that trial showed the combination treatment prevented lung cancer from worsening in patients and then those patients lived longer. a lot of hope going into the stock right now. it's still up 6 2/3%. united health the second biggest mover on the dow says thank you to the new lower corporate tax rate not only did the insurer beat on profit estimates that came out today but raised full year forecasts saying thanks to lower federal taxes, the company will speed up technology investment that will in turn cut customer costs so united health is up about 2%. a hostile chatter right now, hostile standoff chatter boiling up right now around qu

legacy is under modern ge to get the stock up and right now ge is in the middle with the new ceo john flannery of major cost cutting, the question is whether he goes beyond what immelt did which was a slow churn of scuttling -- of shedding businesses to bring the company in a more coherent mold, whether he basically breaks the whole thing up. what he's doing now is hearing from the former ge executives who are shareholders. jack welch, presumably has a lot of stock about what to do, and some of this grousing about immelt, you might see -- i think you've seen in what flannery is doing, including very, very, very drastic steps of cutting costs. one thing i think behind the scenes immelt was criticized from from the welch people, he did not take steps necessarily to cut costs and rein in the costs. remember, jack welch was known as neutron jack for a reason. he laid off tens of thousands of people in the 1980s to get the company in a more coherent way. that's where it is. interesting story. rarely do you see these things coming public. it's never come public, that's why you got me. >> charlie gas

ge's ceo john flannery called the charge deeply disappointing.ot been a selloff in bitcoin like this for months. cryptocurrency has been down as much as 20% today, approaching $11,000. less than a month ago it was trading at almost $19,000. it has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators, including china. that is your bloomberg business flash. david: this is what i'm looking at today, what is going on with qatar and the uae and potentially saudi arabia. the uae claims qatar launched fighter planes. we have a stock photo of them rods jets, to intercept -- garage -- mirage jets. qatar says this is untrue. there is a qatari chic -- sheik who says he is being detained by the uae. atg salman of saudi arabia one point was thought he might like to reprint the in mere dust replaced that you mere in uae -- replace the emir in the uae. alix: what is the end game? david: ask saudi arabia. they have never really thought that qatar should be a separate country. they really want to get them to come to heal, to play games with saudi arabia. they are so we

could get interesting and dismantling the company that immelt created and we should point out that john flannerynew jon was an associate of mr. immelt. this is really interesting. behind the scenes, you don't see it come out that much often and it could have a real impact on the company going forward. >> that's the point, immelt guy in there. charley, we will look for more on the website. charlie, thank you. the president saying about the u.s. and north korea opening lines of possible communication, we are going to talk about what that all means up next >> okay, we are back here to talk about north korea a little bit. president trump had a conversation with the leader of south korea and from the read-out we got of the conversation apparently said he's open to talks with north korea under the, quote, right circumstances. former commander of the middle east during iraq war retired general anthony joins us now. what do you make of that, general, should we be open to those types of conversations? >> i think so. i mean u but i think it has to be understood that the talks have to deal with the nuclear

. >> why should we have confidence in john flannery >> i don't think -- >> i'm not saying we shouldn't i don't know the man at all, but has there been anything you've seen. >> david faber did the great interview with flannery, a lot of people came away and said it didn't sound like he had answers. >> it's early days his first move was to put ed kbarder er gardner on the board you don't put him on the board unless you're going to make substantive changes. he fired half the board. there's been fairly meaningful layoffs. he's taking action. >> stock is 18 now, where is it in a year? >> i think in a year it's easy, 22, 23 i think if he can get visibility on a ramp back to the $1.50-ish earnings number, i think it's a high 20 stock again. >> all right, scott, thank you. >> thank you. >>> if you're flying in or out of the northeast today or trying, will you be able to get to where you're going? we're going to bring you the latest on how the airports are doing after the bomb cyclone. >>> plus michael wolff's fiery new book about the trump white house on sale today. but as the administration b

>> we only think a couple of the shoes fell when john flannery presented back in november 13 in termstheir earnings reset for ge we'll still waiting for a big restructuring charge, a reserve of ge capital. they also startled the market saying there would be no dividend paid from ge capital for all of 2018. there are still a lot of unknowns here, and the expectation is that there's still some new data that's going to come out that investors will need to digest >> looking at ge, just under $18 a share right now. what do you think its value is today? >> we have ge now, the tendency of investors is hey, you just highlighted, kelly, that ge was the worst stock in the dow last year there's a bias for dogs of the dow or mean reversion. ge is a separate story so much still has to come through in terms of the strategic plan, the portfolio revision, the size of the board, all this still has to come through. we're looking at a $20 price target for ge. and there's still -- we'll be waiting to see how this plays out in the first half of 2018. >> you sound like you are absolutely echoing jim cramer

. >> he do believe if you look at these company, they might buy the power division fz john flannery seest's time. >> that's interesting. >> they don't have the balance sheets to do it right now. but when you look at floor, a really great company, stock got hit badly in the '80s because it was so big in south africa and divest tour killed them. i think energy and reconstruction is coming back. maybe ge gets a tailwind there like they are with oil january fl maybe tussa will say -- imagine if he said the worst is over that would be depend on the facts which totally limits him. >> here yesterday, didn't seem to suggest that the risk was over -- >> not john lynch, you don't want to bring that guy to a dinner table until you want debbie downer. >> deutsche's analyst. >> you're not kidding, a lot of factual things to say. >> kind of a snazzy dresser. they don't like him at ge. >> no? >> carl icon, who doesn't think of him when you think of likeable >> here's a name we haven't mentioned much on the activist front, he and darwin, a very large shareholder also seem to be of the same mind, namely

electric'seneral john flannery, the chief executive officer, he is on an earnings call saying they haveve quickly to adjust they will stay ge well into the future. talking about selling or disposing. cash is big. frankly, they did a pretty good report on cash. you can see the stock is actually up your live from new york, this is bloomberg. ♪ david: ford is out with its earnings of afternoon at 4:15. car man.ch is our what are we looking for? david w: we are expecting earnings to go down. surprisingut more than that, commodity pricing, steel and aluminum have gone up am a to the tune of $1.6 billion next year. that is affecting shares leading up to today's earnings. it is sort of interesting, to, because other automakers have not said so much about this affecting their earnings, so it will be interesting to see what else in there will be hitting profits to come. david: a lot of pressure is on profit margins already. whawhere they're going to come up with the money and keep the profit margins up? david w: they are still generating plenty of cash, so they can still invest in autonomous nic

i'm hoping john flannery, when he reports in ge, tells you -- i want to know whether the engines areelling well the engines are good i want to hear about no problems there. that is, he's got oil going. it's kind of an oil stock now. he's got oil going the right direction. maybe the narrative can change look, it's not going to be like espn, where we don't talk about espn anymore, but he's got to get that narrative to change and the way to talk about it, john, i'm advising you here, is to talk about how it's an energy company that can sell off some energy, it's an aerospace company, it's a health care company, andwe we're going to f power. that's how you have ge going they have to fish the cash flow. >> ge, one of the leaders today, up almost a full percent >> and the volume. >> and amex, which had news of its own last night, regarding the year ahead, up more than a% today. over 100 >> that's a stock you want to own. there was a mastercard downgrade today that read like an upgrade. the payments processing business is on fire f.a.n.g. is back it's better than ever. nvidia's about to tak

focus on whether and when, if, ceo and chairman john flannery is going to break apart of the industrialonglomerate. they were looking for guidance on that, but they are going to have to wait >> we have a team dedicated to consider all the details and look at the options that will deliver the best value for our shareholders in the most attractive jobs for our employees. the truly enduring strength of ge lies in our people. there will be a ge in the future, but it looks different than it does today >> reporter: now, other key take aways, industrial cash flow for the quarter and the year was better than expected, that's thanks in part to deeper than expected cost cutting, and $2 billion the take down in costs this year, and ge also reaffirmed the 2018 industrial eft and free cash flow guidance for 2018 that was somewhat welcomed news for many analysts who anticip e anticipated revision lower health care and aviation grew, and baker hughs posted better than expected results, so oil and gas overall still a drag, but power continues to be the biggest source of pain, earnings falling 88% in po

the industrial company is undergoing a strategic review under ceo john flannery to try and turn aroundnd is going hollywood. the saudi fund is in talks to invest more than $500 million in endeavor. that's a holding company for a talent agency. represents stars such as matt damon and ben affleck. rio tinto shipped a record and it hasron ore reaffirmed its target for this year. it is the world's second-largest producer of iron ore. inre hasn't been a selloff bitcoin like this for months. the cryptocurrency has been down as much as 20% today approaching the $11,000 mark. less than a month ago it was trading at almost $19,000. bitcoin has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators in many countries. china is among those trying to crack down on speculation. brent crude closed above $70. rallies thedity view that opec and its partners will in their supply cuts early is also spreading. predicting a wind down that start from the middle of the year. we are joined by will kennedy. good morning. in theu look at the move oil price what does it actually mean for opec? is it going to be short-li