Getting your player ready...
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — General Electric raised $12.2 billion by selling 547.8 million shares for 9.2 percent less than Wednesday’s closing price, giving it more cash to fund operations in the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression.
The shares were priced at $22.25 each, GE said in a statement Thursday. GE stock fell $2.35 to $22.15 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and was the most actively traded stock in U.S. markets.
The discount, coming from a AAA-rated company that has remained profitable through the financial crisis, shows how much GE wanted to bring in cash and reassure investors, analysts said.
