In the trend toward digital transformation, General Electric is the star pupil. The old-line manufacturer of industrial equipment has transformed itself into a technology provider, offering Internet of Things and cloud technologies to manufacturing and other heavy equipment businesses.

That could change drastically, if a report in the Wall Street Journal is true. GE is looking to sell off parts of its digital unit, which produced $500 million or more in revenue last year and lost money, the Journal reported Monday.

GE Digital, the company's software unit based in San Ramon, Calif., was key to the digital transformation vision of former CEO Jeff Immelt, who left last year. He sought to orient the company away from financial and media assets. Under Immelt, GE built Predix software to help customers, including utilities and airlines, gather and analyze data to better manage their equipment. GE Digital became a stand-alone unit in 2015 to distinguish it from GE's industrial divisions, with a goal of becoming a top ten software company by 2020, the Journal reports.

Figure 1: General Electric sign, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Photo by Momoneymoproblemz [CC BY-SA 3.0 ], from Wikimedia Commons

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GE bought ServiceMax in 2016, which provides software for inventory management and workforce scheduling. (See GE Buys ServiceMax in $915M Cloud Play.)

GE declined to comment on the Journal's report; a spokesperson told Light Reading the company doesn't comment on "rumor or speculation."

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— Mitch Wagner Executive Editor, Light Reading