You may have noticed General Electric announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs in its power division.

A company statement said the move is to make “GE more efficient.”

Well, here’s a few other things GE has done as of late to make itself more efficient.

The stock (NYSE: GE) has lost 44.27 percent of its value the last 12 months, largely in part to the company cutting its dividend from 24 cents to 12 cents a share.

According to Money.com, General Electric, a charter member of the New York Stock Exchange in 1896, had been one of the biggest dividend payers in the United States, behind the likes of powerhouses such as ExxonMobil (XOM), Apple (AAPL), International Business Machines (IBM) and Microsoft (MSFT).

By cutting the dividend in half, it is estimated GE will save more than $4 billion per year (Wonder how they will spend that).

But the dividend cut is still one of the largest dividend cuts in the history of the S&P 500 and the biggest since 2009, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Then, there’s this.

While Chevron has had one of the highest median effective annual income-tax rates among S&P 500 companies at 42 percent – guess which company has had one of the lowest.

You guessed it – General Electric, eight percent.

Translated, the stock, which closed Thursday at $17.71 – is headed nowhere fast.

But here’s the best move the company made in January of this year.

GE agreed to pay the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association over $7 million a year (number of years not disclosed) for the rights to display its logo on Celtics jerseys.

It makes sense – to somebody – considering GE is headquartered in Boston.

In 2003, GE decided a new slogan was needed, so the one easily recognize “We Bring Good Things to Life,” was gone, and $100 million was spent to introduce a new one – “Imagination at Work.”

Layoffs, dividend cuts, stock price in the teens, sponsorship deal, $100 million new slogan – very efficient.

David Thomas, Twitter – @DavidThomasWNWS
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