John Francis Welch Jr. (November 19, 1935 – March 1, 2020) was an American business executive. He was chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001.
His long career at GE has left a polarizing legacy. His decisions to adapt GE into a financial company have been poor for investors; and critics argue that his cut-throat work culture is responsible for the modern American capitalist philosophy of constant turnover and has decreased job stability in the United States since the 1980s. This culture has been adopted at many companies, such as Amazon and Uline.
When Welch retired from GE, he received a severance payment of $417 million; at that time this was the largest such payment in business history. In 2006, Welch's net worth was estimated at $720 million.
During Welch's twenty-year tenure, GE's market value swelled from $14 billion to $600 billion. Formerly he was commonly seen as one of the greatest chief executives in history, but his legacy is now more divisive. The finance division, GE Capital, that accounted for 40% of revenue and 60% of profit under Welch, was carved up as GE cratered after Welch's retirement and GE now exists in three parts.