General Electric Co. GE, -0.42% said Thursday it is launching a $1.2 billion industrial internet-of-things software company, which will be wholly owned by independently run with its own board of directors. The company will bring together GE Digital’s IIoT products, and the GE Power Digital and Grid Software Solutions businesses, the company said in a statement.
The company will further sell as majority stake in ServiceMax, a provider of field service management software, to private-equity firm Silver Lake in a deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2019. GE Digital CEO Bill Ruh is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Separately, JP Morgan upgraded GE to neutral from underweight and removed the stock from its Analyst Focus List as a short idea, “as we now see a more event-driven, balanced risk reward at current levels.” Shares rose 12% in premarket trading, but are down 62% in 2018, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.02% has fallen 0.8%.