What is General Electric Company plc?
{{Infobox company | name = General Electric Company plc | logo = Logo General Electric Company.svg | type = [[Public limited company|Public]] | industry = Engineering | fate = Defence arm bought by [[British Aerospace]] to form [[BAE Systems]] (1999)<br />GEC renamed [[Marconi Communications|Marconi]] (1999) | successor = {{plainlist| *[[BAE Systems|BAE Systems plc]] *[[Marconi Communications|Marconi plc]] *[[Otis Worldwide|Otis Worldwide Corporation]] *[[Alstom|Alstom SA]] *[[Osram]]}} | foundation = {{start date and age|1886}} | defunct = {{end date and age|1999}} | location = [[Coventry]], England | key_people = {{ubl|[[Hugo Hirst]] (founder)|[[Arnold Weinstock|Lord Weinstock]] (managing director)}} | products = [[Electronics]] }} The '''General Electric Company''' ('''GEC''') was a major British [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]] company involved in [[consumer]] and [[defence]] [[electronics]], [[communication]]<nowiki/>s, and engineering. It started in 1886 as '''G. Binswanger and Company,''' an [[electrical]] goods [[Wholesale|wholesaler]] in [[London]]. It sold electrical components over the counter which was not common then. In 1889, the business was [[Corporation|incorporated]] as the '''General Electric Company Ltd.''' It became a [[public limited company]] in 1900. During the 1890s and 1900s, the company heavily invested into electric [[lighting]], which was very [[Profit|profitable]]. In the [[First World War]] it supplied the [[military]], and becoming a major player in the electrical industry. In 1921, a new purpose-built company [[headquarters]] (Magnet House) was opened in [[Kingsway, London]]; two years later, GEC's industrial research [[Laboratory|laboratories]] at [[Wembley]] (later named the [[Hirst Research Centre]]) opened. In the 1920s, the company was heavily involved in building Britain's [[National Grid]]. During the [[Second World War]], GEC made several significant contributions to the Allied war effort, such as the development of the [[cavity magnetron]] for [[radar]], va