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THOMSON REUTERS STREETEVENTS EDITED TRANSCRIPT GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

EVENT DATE/TIME: APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This document contains "forward-looking statements" – that is, statements related to future events that by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For details on the uncertainties that may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our forward-looking statements, see http://www.ge.com/investor-relations/disclaimer-caution-concerning-forward-looking-statements as well as our annual reports on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10- Q. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements. This document also includes certain forward-looking projected financial information that is based on current estimates and forecasts. Actual results could differ materially. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES: In this document, we sometimes use information derived from consolidated financial data but not presented in our financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Certain of these data are considered “non-GAAP financial measures” under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules. These non-GAAP financial measures supplement our GAAP disclosures and should not be considered an alternative to the GAAP measure. The reasons we use these non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are posted to the investor relations section of our website at www.ge.com. We use non-GAAP financial measures including the following. • Operating earnings and EPS, which is earnings from continuing operations excluding non-service-related pension costs of our principal pension plans. • GE Industrial operating & Verticals earnings and EPS, which is operating earnings of our industrial businesses and the GE Capital businesses that we expect to retain. • GE Industrial & Verticals revenues, which is revenue of our industrial businesses and the GE Capital businesses that we expect to retain. • Industrial segment organic revenue, which is the sum of revenue from all of our industrial segments less the effects of acquisitions/dispositions and currency exchange. • Industrial segment organic operating profit, which is the sum of segment profit from all of our industrial segments less the effects of acquisitions/dispositions and currency exchange. • Industrial cash flows from operating activities (Industrial CFOA), which is GE’s cash flow from operating activities excluding dividends received from GE Capital. • Capital ending net investment (ENI), excluding liquidity, which is a measure we use to measure the size of our Capital segment. • GE Capital Tier 1 Common ratio estimate is a ratio of equity to total risk-weighted assets . General Electric Capital Corporation (GECC) has been merged into GE and our financial services business is now operated by GE Capital Global Holdings LLC (GECGH). In this document, we refer to GECC and GECGH as “GE Capital”. We refer to the industrial businesses of the Company including GE Capital on an equity basis as “GE”. “GE (ex-GE Capital)” and /or “Industrial” refer to GE excluding GE Capital. Our financial services segment previously referred to as GE Capital is now referred to as Capital. GE’s Investor Relations website at www.ge.com/investor and our corporate blog at www.gereports.com, as well as GE’s Facebook page and Twitter accounts, contain a significant amount of information about GE, including financial and other information for investors. GE encourages investors to visit these websites from time to time, as information is updated and new information is posted.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

CORPORATE PARTICIPAN TS Jeffrey Immelt General Electric - CEO Michael Barbera IVS Associates - VP, Co-Founder

CONFERENCE CALL PARTICIPANTS Bill FreedaShareholder Kevin MaharShareholder Martin HarangozoShareholder Justin Danhof National Center for Public Policy Research - Shareholder Maureen O'Brien City of Philadelphia Public Employee Retirement System - Shareholder Barbara Flaherty Holy Land Principles - EVP, Shareholder Craig WilliamsShareholder Ron Flowers GE Retirees Group - President/Shareholder Antonia MeloShareholder Dennis RocheleauShareholder Jack RichardsShareholder

PRESENTATION

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Good morning. Welcome to GE's 2016 Annual Meeting. I'm Jeff Immelt, Chairman of the Board of GE. And here with me today are Jeff Bornstein, our CFO; and Alex Dimitrief, our General Counsel.

Each year we hold our shareholders' meeting in a city that's important to GE and its shareowners. This year, it's Jacksonville, Florida, and we're very proud to be here. We have more than 1,000 employees in Jacksonville. Our businesses are doing great work here. And last year, we announced Jacksonville would host one of GE's first intelligent city pilots using lighting technology and sensors to increase the energy efficiency for the local government.

Also, in 2014, we announced we would invest $70 million to develop a new Oil & Gas manufacturing facility here, bringing jobs and technology to this city. We do business in Jacksonville because we like it and its people.

This week, we announced a $250,000 grant to the AGAPE Community Health Network to support and improve cardiovascular health in the community. It's easy to be uncertain as an investor today. The global economy is long on volatility and short on economic leadership, but GE remains a good investment. In a complicated world, we're simpler and more competitive. In an uncertain world, we're skilled in managing through tough cycles. And in a riskier world, we have cultural strength and a lot of cash.

We're tested. Companies who think they're perfect can get you in trouble. GE is not perfect, but we make progress every day. In 2015, we continued to take strong actions to make GE better. We transformed our portfolio by exiting most of financial services, while completing the purchase of Alstom, our largest industrial deal, in this sense, superior, which we refocus GE as a high-tech leader. To do so, we sold more than half the company where we lacked competitive advantage and rebuilt our core franchises.

At the same time, we accelerated our transformation as a leader in Industrial Internet to become a Digital Industrial company. In the Industrial Internet, we see the next wave of productivity for the company and for our customers. Our team does exactly what they need to do in the future and are compensated to execute. They also have a competitive advantage that capitalizes on our unique depth and expertise. We call this the GE Store.

The GE Store captures our ability to share knowledge, technology and capabilities across GE. A culture simplification is essential to win in the future. We're leaving the world of silos and spreadsheets to a world of agile teams that are mission-based. We're acknowledging that speed and simplification are synonymous with quality and innovation. Achievement culture and simplification is a strategic imperative at GE and will define our leadership.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

GE is part of an economic ecosystem that's most competitive in the world. We're all proud to work at GE, a purposeful company that makes a difference in the world, which is something more than what we are today. Some companies are retreating; we're moving forward. And we're committed to deliver for you.

Now to our order of business. I'm advised that this meeting is properly convened. We have a quorum and that the proposed resolutions presented in the proxy statement are filed as part of these proceedings.

We received proxies representing over 75% of the outstanding shares eligible to vote, and the management proxy committee has voted these shares in accordance with shareowner wishes.

It's now my privilege to introduce the members of your Board of Directors and director nominees who are with us today. I'm going to ask the directors to stand briefly as I introduce them so you can see who they are.

Andrea Jung, President and Chief Executive Officer, Grameen America, a Director since '98.

Shelly Lazarus, Chairman Emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather, a Director since 2000. Shelly is Chair of our Governance and Public Affairs Committee.

Bob Lane, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Deere, a Director since '05.

Susan Hockfield, President Emerita of MIT, Director since '06. Susan is Co-Chair of the Technology and Industrial Risk Committee.

Jim Mulva, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of ConocoPhillips since '08.

Geoff Beattie, former Chief Executive of The Woodbridge Company, a Director since '09. Jeff is Chairman of the GE Capital Committee.

Jim Tisch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Loews Corporation, since '10.

Jack Brennan, Chairman Emeritus at Vanguard, a director since '12. Jack is our Lead Director and Chair of the Management Development and Compensation Committee.

Frank D'Souza, the Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant, a Director since 2013.

Mary Schapiro, former Chairman of the SEC, a Director since '13. Mary is Chair of our Audit Committee.

Jim Rohr, Executive Chair, former Chief Executive Officer of PNC Financial, since '13.

We also have one of our new director nominees in the year -- in attendance this year, Sebastian Bazin, Chairman of Accor. He will be joined by Lowell McAdam, Chairman and CEO of Verizon; and Peter Henry, Dean of the NYU Stern School as new directors.

I'd also like to acknowledge three directors who are not standing for reelection. Dr. Bob Swieringa is here today. Bob, thank you for all your great service for the company. We really appreciate it. And also, Sandy Warner, who's not standing. He was a director since '92; and Jim Cash since '97. Both of them have been fantastic directors, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

And I'd also like to ask John Rice, Keith Sherin and Beth Comstock to stand. They're Vice Chairman of GE and do great work for you every day.

So agenda item number two is just a brief update on operations of the company. And what I thought I'd do is just kind of give you a sense of where we are in the world and how the company is doing. We live in a world of slow growth and volatility and populism. And in that world, we have to keep investing in being more competitive and fast in order to be successful.

In that context, last year, we really performed very well for investors. Organic growth was up 3%. Our earnings per share were up 19% at a time when the U.S. GDP growth was only slightly above 2%. We've got good margins, good returns, strong cash flow. We returned $33 billion to investors in buyback and cash. So really on the metrics that we look at in 2015, the company had really a pretty good year, and we're off to a good start again in 2016.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

I think about the company in five levels. Our portfolio, the source of our competitiveness, which is the GE Store and really the transformation to become a digital and industrial company. Culture simplification, how do we make sure we're competitive in the 21st century. And then how do we deliver good returns to our investors. And I want to go through each one of these pillars just briefly for you this morning.

Last year, we took on a lot in the GE portfolio. If we were at this meeting last year in Oklahoma City, we had just announced the transformation of GE Capital. And in the last year, we've signed almost $200 billion of deals and received cash. We paid that back to dividends to the company, which again almost all of that has gone forward to our investors.

At the same time, we completed the acquisition of Alstom, which we think will be transformative in our Power business and Energy Connection business, and by 2018 should deliver $0.15 to $0.20 a share for investors. So we've really pivoted the portfolio to being one that's really fundamentally a high-tech industrial company with financial service business that really only supports our industrial assets.

Underlying the company is what we call the GE Store. And this is how you create breadth as a strength, how you make size a strength for investors and for customers and not a weakness. And so we've got really an integrated way we think about using our scale and spreading ideas and creating solutions for our customers, where every business inside GE adds to the Store and every business can utilize capability from the Store. And we think this is a true strength of your company as we stand here today.

A good example of that is we're launching what's called the LEAP engine. This goes into narrow-body aircraft. A lot of you flew here on a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320. We have about 75% market share of these engines. But a lot of the strength that came into these engines come from our global research center, our technology that we have across the company, manufacturing science that we developed centrally. And so this is a great strength of your company is to launch these products. This product probably will be a $1 billion or $2 billion investment, but will have $100 billion of revenue in the next 25 or 30 years. And these are things that only GE can do for our customers.

Now you saw Owen, which is really part of our transition from a kind of industrial company to a Digital Industrial company. And we think this is the transition that every company has to make, and GE is in the forefront as we look at that. The way to think about that from an investor standpoint or from a customer standpoint is, this is the productivity, and productivity has trailed recently.

So industrial companies like CSX, who is a local Jacksonville company, they need more productivity and they just haven't been able to generate the amount that they want to achieve. And for CSX, 1 mile of velocity, just really small change in productivity is worth an immense improvement in terms of their customer service and earnings. And in many ways, GE has the application that can provide that kind of productivity. So we sit here at a time when the physics of a product are matching with the Internet and analytics of technology, and we can turn that into growth for us and productivity for our customers.

We play on a bunch of different levels. We can measure machines remotely. We can improve visibility for our customers on the factory floor. We can improve uptime so trains aren't late and planes aren't late. And if you have to go get your knee examined by an MR scanner or an X-ray machine, those images can be readily available to the orthopedic surgeon, to the radiologist across the hospital. We can measure the analytics around each one of these products and turn them into better outcomes for our customers. And this business, for us, is an excess of $6 billion and growing almost 30% a year. So this is quite a substantial change for your company and one that I think most companies are going to have to go through.

And we're playing on a bunch of different labels. We actually -- your company, GE, almost 140-year-old company now has kind of a cloud-based operating system. So in that regard, we'll compete with IT companies in the future for really winning in the future. We develop software applications really based in California, but doing those all over the country. We are really investing in what we call the Digital Twin, which takes every asset we have and provides kind of an analytical model forward. And we're driving digitalization across our company. So we think this is going to deliver more productivity for us and more productivity for our customers as we go forward. This is an exciting change for your company.

Now it's also impacting the factory floor. GE is a big manufacturer. We're a good manufacturer. We do manufacturing as one of our core competencies. We're using kind of the ability to push forward in digitalization and analytics to make our factories more competitive. We're launching new materials. When we launched new products like the jet engine I showed you, they have brand-new materials; more automation; advanced analytics, which are also helping our factories be more productive in what's called additive manufacturing, which allows us to make complicated parts with no scrap. So this is really again helping the company be faster growth and more competitive in a slow-growth world. And I think that's the kind of company you want to see GE continue to drive and be.

GE has made a big commitment to manufacturing globally, but also in the United States. We've opened 15 new factories since 2010. We have 65 applicants or more for every job opening. The average wage in the United States is $28 an hour. And the last agreement we had for the first time on our history, we had 100% ratification by our locals and 82% vote by all the members, so quite a watershed that shows how we're working across the company from a manufacturing and a capability standpoint.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

We made a transition with our retirees to put into Healthcare exchanges. This gives all the GE retirees access to a more competitive health care world where there are 40 million people that are out there buying insurance and buying capability all the time. This is something that really every company in the U.S. is making these kinds of changes in their benefits plan. We provide financial assistance both from a drug standpoint and from an out-of-pocket standpoint. More than 160,000 retirees have been engaged in this. And the surveys we're doing show 8 in 10 kind of understand and are accepting and are satisfied with the process. So these are always hard changes, but these are things that are really important for the company as we go forward.

So lastly, just changing the GE culture to be simpler, driven by beliefs and faster to be more competitive as we look forward in the future. So this is really a critical framework for the company in terms of how you stay competitive in the 21st century. And you have a company in GE that sells in 185 countries that can compete in China and win, can compete in India and win. It is -- can leverage across Europe and Russia and Africa and every place. And so this kind of culture -- and the changes we drive are really making the company so that you can be in this room 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 50 years from now, and still see a company that is thriving and advancing and moving forward.

We've announced the move this year to Boston. We think this is going to allow us to remain lean with the smaller headquarters. It allows us to really use our centrifugal force to be in a sea of ideas and generate ideas and really help us promote this kind of change. And so we're excited by that move of a robust and smaller headquarters for GE in a city that's got more than 50 universities and tremendous diversity and tremendous technical talent. So we're looking forward to that.

From a financial standpoint, people that are investing in GE right now can look at over the next couple of years and see a very clear walk to hit in excess of $2 a share by 2020. This has to do with using the GE Capital proceeds to buy back stock. We use our float. The Alstom earnings, which are very clear and measurable and we're making good progress on those, and just sustaining our industrial growth the way we have over the last four or five years. You do those things, you get north of $2 a share by 2020 -- or by 2018.

And then we have additional balance sheet strength to do acquisitions or buy back additional shares in the future. So there's really no industrial company that can start at $1.30 the way we did in 2015 and march up a path of double-digit earnings growth each and every year over the next few years and do it in a way that they control all the levers that you need to control that would achieve that growth. So we're quite unique in that regard.

And from an investor standpoint, look, this is -- over the last five years, we've exceeded the S&P and common benchmarks for the company. We've done so last year. And I think we're quite confident 2016 will continue to be a good year for the company. We ended 2015 as the eight most valuable company in the world, and we still think the best days are ahead for GE. So we like the strategy and the position where we are.

Recap. We transformed the portfolio, lots of heavy-lifting your team did last year to position the company. We've got a real competitive advantage in the GE Store. And we're the first Digital Industrial company, and looking forward into driving competitive position in that.

So that's just a little bit of an update on the company. And now what I'm going to do is move on to discussion of other matters that are in the proxy. The independent inspectors of election for this year's meeting are representatives of IVS Associates. The inspectors have taken oath of office required by law. If you've already voted by proxy, there's no need to vote by ballot today. You'll find a ballot on your seat. We'll take up the election of directors and management of shareholder proposals. After the election of directors and management proposals are introduced, there'll be an opportunity for discussion. And then after the shareholder proposals are introduced, there'll be a chance to discuss those. There'll be time later on the meeting for discussion of other business matters, but first, we'll go to the proxy.

The first matter is the election of directors. I place before the meeting to serve as directors for the coming year, 16 individuals whose names and biographies appear on Page 11 through 16 on the proxy. Each of these nominees has received the overwhelming majority of the 7 billion shares voted by proxy.

Next on the agenda is the proposal to approve our named executives' compensation. Your Board of Directors recommends the vote for the approval of our named executives' compensation.

And the move on the proposal to ratify the selection of KPMG as independent auditors for 2016. We have with us today John Veihmeyer, Larry Bradley, Tom Kent Ferotta, who represent KPMG. Your Board of Directors recommends the vote for the ratification of KPMG as independent auditors.

Now that's the management proposals. Again, plenty of time to speak during the shareholder proposals if you'd like to speak about any one of those. If not, we'll just push on to the shareowner proposals. So I think -- should we go on the shareowner proposals? We got mic two.

Bill Freeda Shareholder

Yes, this has to do with the election of the directors.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Yes. But you're scheduled to speak as well on shareowner proposal two, right?

Bill Freeda Shareholder

That's absolutely right.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Okay, great.

Bill Freeda Shareholder

I'm doing that for someone else.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Okay, great.

Bill Freeda Shareholder

Good morning, fellow shareowners. My name is Bill Freeda, and I'm here this morning to vote against Jeffrey Immelt and to urge all of you to do the same. I don't take this position lightly. But in my opinion, Mr. Immelt's word cannot be trusted.

At the conclusion of last year's shareowners' meeting, the Chairman said and I quote, "I'd like to say to the retirees, thanks for coming. We listened to you. We honor your service. Thanks for being here." Jeff, based on your actions, you could not have made a more disingenuous statement. In the GE pensioner handbook dated as recently as January 1, 2012, it states that GE expects and intends to continue the GE Medicare benefit plans in this handbook indefinitely. Somehow, it doesn't seem to me that breaking that promise honors our service.

Full disclosure, that section continues reserving the right to terminate, amend or replace the benefit programs at any time for any reason. But that section also gives specific examples of when taking such an extreme measure would be necessary. The Chairman and his surrogates never seem to mention that. As Mr. Immelt knows fully well, that provision was never meant to cut the legs out from under long-term loyal employees and retirees who had earned coverage under GE's post-65 Medicare supplement plans over entitled special benefits protection. That, however, is the legal position GE is taking in the two lawsuits it is currently facing. Of course, the decision of legality will not be resolved here today. But fellow shareowners, let us not confuse legal and illegal with right or wrong. Make no mistake about it. This action that GE has taken is wrong. We can point the times in this country's history when actions may have been legal but were still wrong.

As I look at our own Board of Directors today, I am reminded that less than 100 years ago, Susan Hockfield, Andrea Jung, Rochelle Lazarus and Mary Schapiro were not able to vote. That may have been legal, but who here today would claim that it was right? In Chairman and CEO Immelt's statement of integrity dated January 2002, he says "Nothing, not making the numbers, competitiveness or direct orders from the superior should ever compromise your commitment to integrity." And again, in his statement of integrity dated June 2005, Mr. Immelt says, "Do not allow anything, not making the numbers, competitive instincts or even the direct order from a superior to compromise your commitment to integrity."

In his most recent letter to shareowners dated February 26, 2016, the Chairman says, "We, GE, act with unyielding integrity and we do what we say we are going to do." Not so much. Now all of Chairman Immelt's words need to be viewed against the background of GE's termination of its post-65 medical benefits. Not for new employees, not for employees hired after 2005, but for long-term loyal members of the GE family.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Some of these family members retired more than 30 years, some in their mid-80s and 90s. That is how Jeffrey Immelt honors the service of GE's retirees. It does baffle me how Mr. Immelt can claim that breaking a decade's long promise to the people on whose shoulders he stands is not a violation of GE's integrity policy; or more likely, he simply doesn't care.

And then of course, there was Mr. Immelt's compelling defense of his shameful act, "Everybody's doing it." Really, Jeff? Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I haven't heard that whiny excuse since my children were eight. And here we are today hearing that very defense from the General Electric Company, its Chairman, CEO and his surrogates. There is currently a television commercial that ends, "Do you know what GE is?" Perhaps it should continue, "Yes, I do. GE is a company that abandons its long-term family members at a time in their lives they are most vulnerable. GE is a company that treats its retirees as obsolete equipment in a plant that closed. GE is a company that not only abandoned its retirees, but its integrity policy."

Having worked in television for more than 42 years, I have a tendency to recall lines of dialogue. In an episode of Blue Bloods, one of the characters describes his grandchild's teacher as never uncertain and seldom right. That, fellow shareowners, in a nutshell sums up Mr. Immelt's tenure as GE's Chairman and CEO. As I said when I began, I am not voting for Jeff Immelt today because I do not trust what he says. My concern, fellow shareowners, is will current employees, prospective employees, stock analysts, investors, customers or vendors ever believe what Chairman Immelt says in the future?

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you, Bill. Should we go on to shareowner Proposal number one? I believe Maureen --

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

No, I'd like to --

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Okay, Kevin, you're going to go. Thank you. Hey, Kevin. How you doing?

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

Good not bad.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Good. good to see you again. Thanks.

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

Good to see you -- be able to see you anyways. My name is Kevin Mahar. I'm a shareowner for many years. This happens to be my 22nd Annual Meeting that I've attended, and speaking out for the retirees. I came up and I am voting against every one of the Board of Directors. It's the first time I've ever done that. I've done it in print. And I'm -- and because of what happened with the retirees. I came across an old bag that GE came out with, okay, many years ago. On the bottom, it says "Keeping the promise," and that's the GE logo. Now I have to turn it around because that certainly has been now reduced to nothingness. This is a letter that was -- was to President Obama, Senator Warren, Manchin, Representatives Moulton and Governor Charlie Baker in Massachusetts. And by the way, I'll say some good things. Congratulations coming to Massachusetts. We're welcoming you to come in.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

We got a chance to spend more time together.

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Well, the rumor was you were coming to Boston because you wanted to be closer to me.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

You can count on that.

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

The Wall Street Journal has reported that many large corporations have eliminated their over-65 benefit. See attached list, and all of your Board of Directors has been given a copy of this whole packet. All have eliminated health care for those who have retired. But -- and they are predicting that 90% of all American companies will attempt to eliminate these benefits.

At General Electric, I estimate that there are about 15,000 GE retirees in Massachusetts who have lost their group insurance. They are all on fixed incomes. The experience of enrolling in an individual plan has bordered them what I call elder abuse. And this board needs to hear some of these things that has happened to them. Because GE retirees' number in the hundreds of thousands throughout the country, the corporation is saving billions of dollars in putting the cost of the medical insurance on the backs of GE retirees and taxpayers.

The Wall Street Journal reported that GE saved $3.3 billion by ending their retirees' health insurance on January 1, 2015. How would our elected politicians feel if they had to pay for their fantastic health benefits that Congress has provided them? If you were not assured of your medical benefits, might you reconsider retiring? The shift of this burden onto GE retirees will reduce their standard of living throughout the country. Many retirees have confessed to me the stress that the change has caused them. One elderly gentleman aged 88 say he and his wife have spent many hours worrying about how to pay for the increased cost. He and his seven brothers fought in World War II and said that they didn't fight for GE to take away their benefits. Others have told me about their physical distress. Nearly all feel that they have been held hostage by the OneExchange for hours on end. OneExchange has been hired by GE to administer the individual insurance options.

Another couple, Arthur Murry and his wife, Mary Anne, for example, said on October 16, 2015, they spent over five hours on the phone with the OneExchange and then three hours on the phone in my office on November 3rd until they were finally enrolled. There appears to be a clear example of elder abuse. Any reasonable person would conclude that to spend eight hours on the phone to register for health insurance is abusive. I wonder if the parents of Jeff Immelt, Jeff's father was a GE retiree, had a similar experience.

John Lynch who said, some say was the architect of this massive change, was given a golden parachute of 500,000 shares of GE stock. Just so everyone knows, at the current dividend rate of $0.23 per share, that's about $432,000 a year we're going to be paying him with his reward. I wonder if Jeff Immelt notified President Obama that he intended to eliminate the over-65 health insurance of 165,000 GE retirees.

On January 1, 2015, 65,000 salaried employees lost their group insurance. And then on January 1, the union of affected retirees lost theirs. People retired because they were promised benefits for life, and then GE reneged on those commitments. The shift in liability from a healthy corporation to those least able to afford the changes of morrow. Might this be the result of GE spending the most money in U.S. history to lobby Congress for their own interest? Was this -- or was the shift in liability merely an unintended consequence of their lobbying efforts? What can be done about this abuse of power? Such changes will clearly lower standard of living of retirees and having a negative effect on taxpayers.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thanks. Thank you.

Kevin Mahar Shareholder

I'm almost done. Veterans who were enrolled in company plans, for example, will now be forced to seek their medical insurance from taxpayers, veterans' insurances and Medicaid. Look, you look at the packet. These are actual life experiences. I can tell you from personal experiences, which haven't been going into people's homes, 93-year old widows. It's the most disastrous -- and I've been involved with GE for 55 years. It's the most disastrous thing I've ever seen that's happened.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Thanks, Kevin. One more. Mark, let's go to Maureen O'Brien. She's going to propose number one. Maureen, are you here?

Martin Harangozo Shareholder

(Inaudible - microphone inaccessible).

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

You've got two proposals today, Mr. Harangozo. Okay, please?

Martin Harangozo Shareholder

Good morning. My name is Martin Harangozo. I'm grateful to be a shareholder. I love this company, people and products. I have purchased shares for over 25 years. I'm not a stock renter or a day trader. It is a pleasure to meet the Board of Directors. They are well-dressed and they look nice. What is not so clear to me is what it is that they do. I believe the most significant correspondence the board has with its shareholders is a communication of the dividend.

In 2009, GE shareholders were told that management would protect the dividend. This did not happen. The board declared a dividend for 2009. They are still not being paid and it's seven years later. I would like at least half the shareholder presentation to be by the board, explaining how they arrived at the 2009 dividend and why they fell short and what their recovery plan is to make good on their promise. I say let's hear it from the board. Let's give the board a chance to share their plan.

I'm also suspicious regarding the wise trades of our CEO. Just before Immelt became CEO, he sold his shares near the all-time high of $60. Once the stock fell, he purchased shares at a fraction of the price he sold them, that is around $9. Considering option, Immelt is now up over 2,000% on his money. Shareholders are still underwater from the share price of when Immelt sold his shares and also later when he became CEO. While Immelt has claimed he has skin in the game, it is important to understand that Immelt shed his skin near the top then grew his skin when the share price fell, like a long snake. I would like the board to present a plan that brings shareholders the same wealth as the CEO to incentivize sustained growth for all instead of volatility that enriches the CEO at shareholders' expense.

Thirdly, I find the relationship between the company and the shareholders to be too hostile. For example, Welch wrote the employee who shares GE values and misses his numbers usually gets a second chance, sometimes a third. GE counsel, Gibson and Dunn, told the company six times that my shareholder proposals were not good for the proxy. It is surprising that with Ms. Schapiro on the board, you are wrong so often on my proposals. After being wrong six times, let's stop paying money to Gibson and Dunn and use that money to pay the dividend.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you. Just, Martin, I want you to know I've never sold a share of stock as COG, never have, never will, period. So let's go to Proposal number one and have Maureen O'Brien who's here today to do number one.

Maureen O'Brien - City of Philadelphia Public Employee Retirement System - Shareholder

Good morning, fellow shareowners and members of the board. My name is Maureen O'Brien. I'm here on behalf of the City of Philadelphia Public Employee Retirement System. I hereby move shareholder Proposal One, asking our company to provide a report on its state and federal lobbying expenditures, including indirect funding of lobbying through trade associations. Transparency and accountability in corporate spending to influence public policy are in the best interest of GE shareholders. GE spent $36 million in 2014 and 2015 on federal lobbying activities, according to disclosure reports.

But there is incomplete disclosure about spending at the state level, where our company also lobbies extensively. GE lobbied in 20 states in 2014 and 2015, for example, in California, spending more than $380,000. GE states that its state lobbying reports are publicly available. But obtaining state lobbying information in 20 different states is not a simple task. Finding state lobbying disclosure has been described by an expert as "nearly impossible" given "the byzantine manner in which the data is captured and made available online," which effectively buries the information at many states.

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GE claims producing a lobbying report would impose unnecessary administrative burden and cost. But GE is required to report its lobbying, so it already has the information. GE simply needs to disclose it to shareholders at a minimal cost, rather than leaving it buried in a maze of impenetrable disclosures. Corporations contribute millions to trade associations that lobby indirectly on their behalf without specific disclosure or accountability. GE shareowners face the trade association blind spot as our company fails to even disclose its trade association membership. And it does not disclose its trade association payments, nor the portion of those payments used for lobbying. These amounts can be quite large.

For example, many companies belong to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest lobbying group in Washington, spending more than $1.2 billion on lobbying since 1998. Research shows GE sits on the boards of the business roundtable and the National Association of Manufacturers and belong to the Chamber of Commerce. For 2015, these groups spent $121 million on federal lobbying. But shareowners currently have no way to know GE's trade association memberships or contributions being used to lobby on its behalf.

Our request for disclosure is not an outrageous demand, but instead a call for transparency and accountability in the spending of shareholder resources. Why should GE intentionally keep in the dark about how and why they are spending shareholder money? Proxy adviser, ISS, supports this proposal, noting that GE "does not disclose its trade association memberships or the portion of dues and other payments used for lobbying purposes." Publicly available data does not provide a complete picture of GE's lobbying expenditures. GE's Board and its shareowners need complete disclosure to be able to evaluate the use of corporate assets for lobbying and any risk the spending may pose. We hope that you vote for our proposal.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you very much. Thanks. Proposal number two is on independent chair, and I think, Bill, you're up again.

Bill Freeda Shareholder

Jack Nicholson said in The Shining, "I'm back." This is a proposal sponsored by Kenneth Steiner of Great Neck, New York. Shareholders request our Board of Directors to adopt as policy and amend our governing documents as necessary to require the Chair of the Board of Directors, whenever possible, to be an independent member of the board. The board would have the discretion to phase out -- to phase in this policy for the next CEO transition implemented so it does not violate any existing agreement. If the board determines that a Chair who is independent when selected is no longer independent, the board shall select a new Chair who satisfies the requirements of the policy within a reasonable amount of time. Compliance with this policy is waived if no independent director is available and willing to serve as Chair.

This proposal requests that all necessary steps be taken to accomplish the above as Board of Directors is less likely to provide rigorous independent oversight of management if the Chairman is the CEO, as in the case with our company. Having a Board Chairman who is independent of the company and its management is a practice that will promote greater management accountability to shareholders and lead to a more objective evaluation of management.

According to the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance, the independent share curbs conflicts of interest, promotes oversight at risk, manages the relationship between the board and CEO, serves as a conduit for the regular communication with shareowners and is a logical next step in the development of an independent board. And independent directors serving as Chairman can help ensure the functioning of an effective board. Please vote to enhance shareholder value.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you, Bill. Proposal number three is, I think, going to be presented by Barbara Flaherty. This is the Holy Land Principles. Is Ms. Flaherty here today? Thank you.

Barbara Flaherty - Holy Land Principles - EVP, Shareholder

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and everyone. My name is Barbara Flaherty. I'm the Executive Vice President of Holy Land Principles based in Washington, D.C. and I rise to move resolution number three on the Holy Land Principles. The Holy Land principles are pro- Jewish, pro-Palestinian and pro-company. The principles do not call for quotas, reverse discrimination, divestment, disinvestment or boycotts. The principles do not take any position on solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The principles do not try to tell the Palestinians or the Israelis what to do. The Holy Land Principles only call for fair employment by American companies in Palestine, Israel. Let me repeat that. The Holy Land Principles only call for fair employment by GE and the other American companies doing business in the Holy Land.

Regardless of what Americans think about the Palestinian-Israeli issue, one thing is certain, Americans expect American companies in the Holy Land, and wherever they are located, to practice fair employment. Our resolution calls on GE to set the standard by signing and implementing the Holy Land Principles, which are based on the

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting very effective Macbride Principles for Northern Ireland, which addresses discrimination in the workplace. Initially, American companies resisted the Macbride Principles. But now, 116 companies, including this excellent GE, to its credit, have signed the Macbride Principles. So why would GE or any American company refuse to sign the Holy Land Principles?

Last year, GE, Corning and Intel tried to get the SEC, the Security and Exchange Commission, to exclude the Holy Land Principles resolution from their 2015 proxy material. However, the SEC, standing for truth, justice and the American way, ruled in favor of the Holy Land Principles each time. Therefore, you know that Holy Land Principles are intrinsically valid, inherently fair and reasonable and in the best American tradition. This is GE's second chance to do the right thing. The Torah, the five books of the Old Testament, speaks of second chances to give people who did not fulfill their obligation the first time, a second chance to do so. So please avail of this second chance and please vote for Holy Land Principles. God bless America and the American way of fair employment. Thank you.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you very much. Shareowner Proposal number four and five. So four is on cumulative voting and five is on performance-based options.

Here's also, Mr. Harangozo. So good to see you again.

Martin Harangozo Shareholder

I also am back. Thank you. Cumulative voting is recommended by Warren Buffett's mentor, Benjamin Graham, in a book, Security Analysis, who co-authored with David Dodd. Nazi concentration camp survivor, Evelyn Davis, placed this proposal on the GE proxy many times in previous years. I am honored to stand on the shoulders of great people and great minds in presenting this cumulative voting proposal. Cumulative voting gives shareholders a company with more distinction capability in director elections. Directors provide oversight to the company on behalf of the shareholders. Oversight matters of interest to me are sustainability and transparency.

I think of three-key objectives of a company our size. The first is to live. Fortunately, the recipe delivers simple and clear. Peter Lynch wrote in one up on Wall Street that a company with no debt cannot go bankrupt. The second objective would be to grow. Here again, we have historical market momentum to help us. The market grew, on average, over 10% for the last 70 years. Indexing a quarter of our net earnings would ensure that portion of the company grows with the market. If the rest of the company underperforms a market, as our company has for over 16 years, indexing could be increased to 75% of retained earnings. This adjustment enables shareholders to tune the CEO to perfection.

Finally, after the steps have been taken to live and grow, I find the third step is to shine. I like our mission statement that says in part that we do what few companies do. I would like to add numerical polish to this statement as companies can go broke doing what few companies do. To produce a number, I have examined the world we live in. Former CEO, Jack Welch, wrote that leveraged aircraft leasing returns 30%. Leverage, however, implies debt and caution. Jeremy Siegel shows that the market bias towards certain fundamentals have grown over 17% in the last 50 years. Finally, Warren Buffett says a good business can grow money at 20%, and there are very, very few businesses that can do this.

I would like to remind Buffett that there is only one original Dow company left with a heartbeat. Berkshire Hathaway grew money, on average, more than 21% for over 50 years. So I find we should have a goal to grow money at 20% with a miss threshold of 15% and accept very few misses. We should have a goal at least they had already accomplished. By the way, 15% can take a 50-year-old millionaire and transform him to a 100-year-old billionaire. There is hope for me.

In summary, the objectives to live, grow and shine, can be accomplished with no debt, indexing one quarter of net income and plans to grow 20%. While sustainability and transparency are oversight matters of interest, to me, I know there are other matters of interest to other shareholders. I urge all shareholders to vote for cumulative voting Shareholder Proposal number four.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Great. Thank you, Martin. Now you've got number five as well.

Martin Harangozo Shareholder

Yes, I was asked to present the proposal for Mr. James Jensen. There was an emergency, and I got a phone call. The objective of this presentation is to give shareholders a company aligned to the stock performance experienced by management. Wall Street Journal writer, Jason Zweig, in the book, The Intelligent Investor, relies to this in

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Page 511, says, "No CEO deserves to make himself rich if he has poor -- produced poor results for you." The market is at near record-high, yet our stock, our dividends and our earnings are trailing like a caboose. When the company underperforms a market, bonuses are paid. This is accomplished by taking the company nearly bankrupt, according to Forbes, and claiming a slight recovery as an outperformance to the market, sometimes referred to as a dead cat bounce.

Trading patterns show that Mr. Welch and Mr. Immelt make enormous amounts of money on options and trading GE stock. Collectively, they earn hundreds of millions doing that. Welsh and Immelt became rich, utilizing the shareholders as useful idiots. Their inside trading, even if legal, is outperforming the buy-and-hold shareholders handsomely. There is currently no mechanism that will prevent us from becoming a common occurrence. Shareholders do not have the same inside control and we lose money.

Welch told the Financial Times effectively that much of GE valuation was unsustainably driven by debt. Welch did not, however, return to the GE shareholders the hundreds of millions he collected in creating that GE bubble. Welch and Immelt kept their money as shareholders lost their shirts. Immelt and Welch created while similar to that of Bernard Madoff in that a temporary claimed earnings growth were not sustainable. Yet unlike Madoff, the money Welch and Immelt earned pleasing the shareholders remained in their pockets. Given the size of the valuation declines and dividend declines and Welch's acknowledgment that debt-free-driven profits are not sustainable, salary increases should only occur when profits increase, with debt simultaneously decreasing. Please vote yes for Shareholder Proposal number five. Mr. Immelt, my reference was to your options, you're cashing a lot of options just before you became CEO.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Never sold a share or stock while CEO of GE. That's for sure.

Martin Harangozo Shareholder

You sold options.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Proposal number six is Justin Danhof. Justin, welcome back to the meeting, and you're going to -- on the human rights report. Welcome.

Justin Danhof - National Center for Public Policy Research - Shareholder

Thanks, Jeff. I'm Justin Danhof of The National Center for Public Policy Research, and I rise to move Proposal Six. Last spring, our CEO joined with a host of corporate leaders in distorting religious freedom laws, specifically regarding Indiana's effort to protect its citizens' deeply held religious beliefs. He wrote, "I am very concerned about the potential impact of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that could have on our company and our employees." Since that time, many more corporations have joined in this mob effort to squash religious liberty. Mr. Immelt was speaking on behalf of this company, writing on company letterhead, and I'm sorry to say he was bending the truth.

Here is the truth. The federal government and 31 states already have heightened religious freedom laws on the books, and since you're not going read about it in the press, I'll tell you this is all that those laws do. They say that the government should not interfere with an individual's religious freedom unless doing so is necessary to reach an important government goal. Second, they say that if the government can reach this important goal in a way that does not abridge religious freedom, it should simply choose that other method. That's all these laws do.

The Federal Religious Freedom Law was coauthored by none other than liberal icon, Senator Ted Kennedy, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Its purpose is to protect religious rights, which of course are civil rights. The state laws imitate the federal law sometimes word for word. Mr. Immelt expressed concern that religious freedom laws will lead to discrimination in part against homosexual individuals. These laws only require the government to avoid interfering with the religious freedom if it can do so while still achieving important government goals. One of them is, of course, in every state of the union outlawing discrimination. Mr. Immelt wrote this letter on GE's behalf, stating we have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. Our proposal takes you up on that.

GE operates in many nations where homosexuality is actually outlawed. In some of these countries, homosexual acts are punishable by death. Women have almost no rights in numerous countries where GE does business. And just try getting a fair trial in some of these nations. Let us as shareholders of GE express our support for the company's zero tolerance on discrimination, as Mr. Immelt said, and question why GE is operating in nations when doing so requires GE to discriminate and acquiesce to discrimination.

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Could a woman at a GE facility in Saudi Arabia even work there without the permission of a male relative? I don't think so. If you want to -- if you're truly concerned about the persecution of homosexuals, Mr. Immelt, look to Riyadh and Tehran, not Indianapolis and Atlanta. Our proposal simply asks management to prepare a report that identifies GE's criteria for operating in regions with systematic human rights violations. If the company is worried about basic religious freedom laws in the Hoosier State and elsewhere that would have a very negative impact on its employees and its companies, then we simply must question why the company operates in regions with actual human rights violations and atrocities. Please join me in Supporting Proposal Six.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you, Justin. Welcome again. Item number four is balloting. So let's move on to Item number four. You will find a ballot on your seat. If you have a ballot ready to turn in, please hold it up, and I ask the ushers to collect it.

I'm seeing it right there, right there, guys? So the inspectors of election are ready to announce the outcome of the voting. Let's go to the inspectors' report. Mr. Michael Barbera of IVS Associates will be presenting the report of inspectors. Mr. Barbera, do you have a report for us?

Michael Barbera - IVS Associates - VP, Co-Founder

Yes, Mr. Chairman. The inspectors of election have completed an initial count of the votes cast at this meeting in person or by proxy. The proxies representing approximately 7,015,000,000 shares or 75.5% of the total shares eligible to vote were received. Other shares have been voted at this meeting by ballot or by proxy.

On the basis of our initial count, the inspectors of elections announced the following results, directors receive at least 5 billion favorable votes, and all nominees have been elected. On the advisory approval of our named executive's compensation, for has 93.9% of shares voted; against, 5.2%. Ratification of KPMG as independent auditor for 2016, for 94.1% of shares voted; against, 2.8%. On the shareowner proposals, the lobbying report, for is 23%; against, 70.6%. Independent share, for, 22% of shares voted; against, 77.3%. The Holy Land Principles, for, 3.5% of shares voted; against, 90.8%. The cumulative voting, for, 9.8% of shares voted; against, 89.1%. Performance-based options, for, 6.7% of shares voted; against, 92.3%. The human rights report, for, 2.6% of shares voted; against, 89.4%.

Mr. Chairman, this initial tally is subject to verification, and the final tabulation may reflect small changes in the vote I have announced. The final tabulation will be set forth in the formal report of the inspectors of election to the secretary of the company, which will be made after the votes have been verified. This concludes our report.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you. So that's -- we're to item number six. So for some Q&A, the formal part of the meeting has ended. So we've got a chance to hear from other members of the audience. We've already heard some extensive comments, but we want to give other shareowners who have not spoken a chance. If you wish to speak, just come to one of the microphones on the aisle. State your name and ask your question. So let's go to the microphones. Let's start maybe on microphone number one. Or is there -- please, microphone number one. Yes, sir? QUESTION AND ANSWER

Craig Williams Shareholder

My name is Craig Williams. It appears I'll be adding my voice to some of the choir, but my statement and question time out at a mere two minutes. My name is Craig Williams. I'm an aerospace engineer currently living in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. I own 10,433 shares of common and I'm here representing only myself. Both of my parents were lifelong salary GE staff, my father being a mid-level manager. I was motivated to fly down here and attend today's meeting because of the last few years of dealing with my mother's loss of GE-sponsored group health plan, like so many others. And aside to Ms. Susan Peters, a member of your staff, Ms. Gail Malkovski has been most helpful and accommodating. And anyone who can deal with me on this subject deserves a bonus.

In the past two years, I've had two prolonged episodes of dealing with a staff of OneExchange, which, with one exception, I found to be incompetent. More importantly, since the passage of so-called Affordable Care Act, my mother has lost her plan -- her plan, mind you, not the policy, three times despite no significant change in her health status, which is excellent, and despite repeated assurances that we could keep our plans. I have found the experiences to be aggravating and time-consuming on my part and, for my mother, who is 91 years old, unnerving. And please, spare me the line about ObamaCare doesn't apply to Medicare. I'm -- it's not merely series of odd coincidences, and I am not that gullible.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

So my question to you is, with a distinct possibility of changes in policies emanating from the White House following this November's election, would General Electric reconsider its decision to end the sponsorship of group health plans for retirees?

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

So again, our sense is you get 40 million people in the exchanges, which is more than 160,000. I think your comments on OneExchange, we should take quite seriously and make sure that we can do everything in our power to make the process better. And I really appreciate your voice and your coming here today. Thank you.

Let me go to microphone number two. Good morning. Good morning, Ron.

Ron Flowers - GE Retirees Group - President/Shareholder

Hi, Jeff, Ron Flowers. I'm President of the GE Retirees Group here in Erie. First of all, for the last speaker, ditto, nice job because we've all run into that problem. It's downright terrible. At last year's shareholders' meeting, I said that we will find out this coming year whether GE has a heart. Well, we now know this is nonexistent and GE couldn't care less about the people who've built the foundation that they stand on.

Last year, we were in Oklahoma City, which was at the end of the Trail of Tears, where tens of thousands of Indians died being forcibly marched from North and South Carolina to new Indian lands in Oklahoma. This year, GE has created their own Trail of Tears all across the country, using over 100,000 GE retirees. Almost daily, I am still trying to help retirees who have been forced to get new insurance or being devastated by drug costs.

These were forced changes, not that they wanted, not that they asked for. I have talked to many who are at wit's end trying to figure out where we are going to get thousands of dollars to pay for drug costs. One drug, if they get prescribed, can wipe out $1,000 in a year. I have people that I have talked to and worked with that, last year, they paid $250, $350, $450 for insurance, for drugs. This year, they hit the donut hole of $3,300 already, and they'll be close to $5,000 by July. This is obscene.

When you're a retiree, you have nowhere to get any more money. You have to deal with what you got. So when you're prescribed a drug, what are you supposed to do? Tell a doctor, "Well, even though it's going to save my life, I can't take it because I can't afford it." That's not an option. It shouldn't be an option. GE has a catastrophic insurance that will help out after a certain point. But many, many people are running into situations where two drugs, three drugs will wipe out two, three, four, five, six months of their pension. Their pension is gone for five, six months. That's just not right, just not right.

I won't even talk about OneExchange. The previous speaker did a very good job. You mentioned 80-20, 80% liked, the 20% didn't. That's a fake figure. There's too many people that were pushed by OneExchange into Medicare Advantage plans that are cheaper and doesn't fit the people. What about somebody in an advantage plan, they were pushed into and they have kids out of town. They have grandkids out of town. They don't have any insurance coverage if they go see them. The GE insurance program before this was nationwide. That's how it should be.

In that last negotiation, GE said that the average retiree's wage -- or average retiree's income is $800 a month, $800 a month. You get two or three bad prescriptions and it wipes that out. And it keeps wiping it out. Let's talk about the 80-20. 80-20 is right now. The people are young. All these people that you shoved into this are getting older by the year. And that 80-20 is going to go 70-30, 60-40. And pretty soon, you're going to have about 10%, 15% across the country.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thanks, Ron. Thank you.

Ron Flowers - GE Retirees Group - President/Shareholder

So I just -- one final comment. Your next board meeting, please go in and congratulate yourselves, puffed-up chest, congratulations, pat yourself on the back, you took $3.3 billion out of the pockets of the old and the sick and the dying.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Thank you, Ron. Thank you. Microphone number one.

Unidentified Audience Member

(spoken in foreign language)

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you very much.

Unidentified Audience Member

(spoken in foreign language)

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you.

Unidentified Audience Member

(interpreted) Good morning. My name is Jairo Saw Munduruku, and I'm -- and my name is Adalto Akai Munduruku, and we are leadership from the Munduruku indigenous people from the Tapajos space in the Brazilian Amazon. I have -- we have traveled four days to come here. My people are under threat because of proposed mega dam project in our river, the Sao Luiz do Tapajos Dam. This project would flood to our land and force us from an area we have lived for centuries. This project would violate human rights.

Prior to GE merger with Alstom's Hydro Power business to create GE Renewables, Alstom was reportedly in discussions to participate, enable and profit off of this destructive project. With its purchase of Alstom, GE is now involved in destructive mega dam projects. At the same time, GE has the potential to be a part of the energy solution for Brazil, being the biggest wind producer.

Also, the Brazilian indigenous affair agents, FUNAI, has just recognized last week the traditional occupation of the Munduruku people to our land. It would be unconstitutional in Brazil to remove us from our traditional territory. This project is illegal and violates human rights. Is GE prepared to bear responsibility for violating customary human rights and the destruction of nature brought by destructive mega dams in globally important ecosystems like the Amazon?

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you for coming today. We certainly will take into consideration everything that you've said, and I really appreciate your attendance today. Thank you. Microphone number two.

Antonia Melo Shareholder

(interpreted) My name is Antonia Melo. I am the leader of the Xingu Alive Forever movement of the Xingu river in the Brazilian Amazon, and I have come today to bring a message because I have been personally impacted by the actions of Alstom, which is now part of GE. I present the voice of the Xingus people who have been massacred by the construction of the Belo Monte dam. This dam that Alstom profited off of and made possible violated environmental and human rights legislation and international treaties that enshrine the rights of indigenous and traditional peoples.

Brazilian Federal prosecutors have classified Belo Monte as ethnocide because of the way it led to the loss of indigenous people's way of life. It forced relocation of fisher folks and the loss of their livelihoods and food security through the massive kill off of the Xingu river's fish, which occurred without even minimal mitigation and compensation for these peoples. Belo Monte means the destruction of the river, its fauna, flora and peoples. It means injustice, the increase in violence, drugs, criminality,

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting the lack of basic public services like health care and sanitation. It means corruption. This project was only possible due to the technical support of international equipment suppliers, like Alstom and now GE.

In spite of its environmental and human rights disaster I've detailed here, Alstom's CEO had the audacity to brag about Belo Monte's contribution to clean, sustainable energy. GE now bears direct responsibility for Belo Monte's irreversible impacts. GE also inherited Alstom's record of rampant corruption, for which it is being investigated in Brazil and all around the world. The investigation into the corruption scandal that had brought about the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff confirmed that corruption was crucial in making Belo Monte a reality. Have you told your investors about the endemic corruption surrounding infrastructure development in Brazil and Alstom's record on corruption or involvement in projects tied to corruption?

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you very much for coming today. Again, we'll take all of these into consideration. Thank you. Dennis?

Dennis Rocheleau Shareholder

I am Dennis Rocheleau.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Good morning.

Dennis Rocheleau Shareholder

Good morning, Jeff. At the risk of proving Walinski's law, I offer these observations for the board. Joseph Anthony Mangino is a 98-year-old GE shareowner who retired from GE with 40 years of service. Joe was the long-time business agent of IUE local 301 at Schenectady Works. I am proud to call him my friend.

I retired with 36 years of service from GE in 2004 as the Chief Labor Negotiator at corporate headquarters. At age 74, I am still willing to listen to my elders. Joe and I disagree about a number of things, politics, economics and many collective bargaining issues. However, we agree that GE is an iconic enterprise although it can occasionally misstep as it did, in our opinion, when, under false pretenses, it exposed its retirees to the insufficient mercies of private exchanges for Medicare supplementary coverage. Joe would probably express his objections in more pungent language than I. The phrase "bait and switch" would definitely be invoked. But let me tell our story in my terms.

In 2008, I appeared at my first GE Annual Meeting to raise some concerns about corporate governance. When I attempted to reach shareowners with a proxy proposal, the company fought me every step of the way. GE probably paid the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher well over $100,000 to keep my ideas off the proxy. But I persisted. On 4/24/13, my proposal on director term limits was presented to this body. I asked for a 15-year term for a broad class of existing independent directors and a tenure limit for directors elected beginning in 2014. GE recommended against my proposal, arguing that my "arbitrary scheme for establishing term limits is counterproductive to GE's ability to retain qualified, experienced and effective directors."

I want to emphasize that the company never engaged me in any dialogue to refine my proposal, to understand my thinking or to explore any mutually agreeable resolution of our differences. Expensive legal resistance was GE's favorite strategy. However, my interest in the company's conduct had shifted prior to that 2013 Annual Meeting, and I did not speak in support of my proposal, but instead addressed GE's unwarranted attack on retiree health care announced in September 2012.

For over three years, I have sought constructive dialogue on this issue and the open disclosure of relevant financial data. When my every initiative was ignored or rebuffed, I filed a lawsuit in Federal Court to challenge this upfront to the reasonable expectations of tens of thousands retirees. Once again, the company did not choose to explore the possibility of a mutually advantageous settlement of our differences. Instead, it will probably pay the law firm of Morgan, Lewis Bockius more than $1 million to fight us, the retirees GE supposedly values.

The company loudly proclaimed commitment to integrity, both the spirit and letter, received scant recognition in this debate. Instead, we are bombarded with the elusive concept of competitiveness and the dim recollections of HR executives whose grasp of benefits accounting is shockingly feeble. Thus, profit maximization and reflexively imitative behavior in a disturbing demonstration of aggressions law drives all of this discourse about a suitable settlement out of the marketplace of acceptable ideas.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

As an aside, I wonder how this concern for so-called competitiveness squares with GE paying $225,000 to Hillary Clinton to speak briefly at its management meeting at Boca Raton two years ago.

Now let me attempt to close the loop. Page 17 of this year's guide to GE proxy statement states, and I quote, "How we build the board that is right for GE, how we refresh the board? Term limits." In September 2015, the board adopted a 15-year term limit for independent directors with a two-year limitation transition period for existing directors. That sounds very much like what I proposed three years ago and which the company denigrated. We cannot afford to wait a -- for a similar recognition of air on the company's part regarding retiree health care. Not just a lot of money, but lives are at stake.

Morgan, Lewis employees' excellent and assured attorneys and GE's pockets are deep enough to fund their litigating this to death. Our lawyers at Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan, although not as highly compensated, are equally competent and passionately committed to securing equity for retirees. Yes, we can continue to litigate, but at what cost of the company’s reputation and the retirees' well-being?

At bottom, this is not about personalities, about whether GE HR executives did sloppy staff work or whether I am an apostatic SEB. No, this is about higher principles than profit. It is about honorable conduct. It is about fair treatment for loyal and credulous retirees. It is to invoke an old negotiations phrase that Joe Mangino and I know well, to do right voluntarily. As it now stands, GE's rebranding as the digital industrial could be somewhat crudely characterized as a towering middle finger extended to hundreds of thousands of salaried hourly and retired salary people. GE can be, GE must be better than that, and the first step is to engage in open, honest dialogue starting now. A reasonable settlement would serve everyone's best interest.

I end my remarks as I began them. Gordy Aters is an 88 -year-old GE shareowner and a retiree with over 31 years of GE service who has recently experienced some significant health issues. I first met Gordy in 1973 national negotiations when Gordy headed IUE Local 805 in Tell City, Indiana. My friends, Gordy and his wife, Mary, also a 31-year service GE retiree, will soon celebrate 50 years of marriage. They have kept their vows to each other. GE must keep its perceived promises.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you, Dennis. Thank you.

Dennis Rocheleau Shareholder

Thank you.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Listen, we've heard from many people today. Let me -- okay. Here we go. Good morning. How are you?

Jack Richards Shareholder

My name is Jack Richards, and I worked for 34 years at General Electric company in your favorite city in Boston.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

It sounds like you have that certain accent, so --

Jack Richards Shareholder

But I now live in Fort Lauderdale.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Okay, great. Welcome.

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APRIL 27, 2016 / 02:00PM GMT, GE - General Electric Co Annual Shareholders Meeting

Jack Richards Shareholder

Okay. And I just wanted to tell you a little bit about my experience, but I want the Board of Directors to understand exactly where I'm coming from.

As I say, I live in Fort Lauderdale, and if you live in certain areas in Florida, you probably have the best insurance of anybody in the United States because I had an HMO and I didn't have to pay one nickel for insurance. And I had a great insurance company by the name of AvMed, and if I went to my PPO, it would cost me zero. And if I went to somebody outside of that, a specialist, it would probably cost me $30, okay.

So now as of January 1 of 2016, I get assigned by your organization, number one, whatever they call it, right. And they assigned me to AvMed -- they assigned me to a health care organization. And now when I go to these same doctors, my cost is tripled, okay. And I was -- I have the gout. Sorry to hear that, but I do have the gout, and my gout medicine was costing me $5. And now they're trying to charge me $170 for the same exact medicine, okay. So everything has tripled and quadrupled based on what you assigned me to. And I cannot get back into my insurance company that I had before, AvMed, which was fabulous.

And also, just to let you know, Jeff, that you're going up to Boston. And we have retirees in Boston that are on pension and they're making $400 a month. Now they are going to have to make decisions whether they buy food or whether they get on the medical. And this is really a disaster for those types of people.

And also, I never met Dennis Rocheleau before. And for a man who worked in corporate to stand up and take a position that he has for the General Electric retirees, something's got to be wrong here. And I think the Board of Directors should intrinsically look at these decisions they have made and the types of people they have destroyed. And when you've got a guy like a Dennis having the guts to stand up and tell you exactly what is going on, I hope you pay attention. And when you get to Boston, maybe you'll -- a lot of people will visit you and tell you all these problems they have. And I hope you -- will you have an open door for these people?

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

I look forward to it. Dennis is a good guy.

Jack Richards Shareholder

Well, thank you very much.

Jeffrey Immelt - General Electric - CEO

Thank you very much. So look, that's -- we've heard from a lot of people today. I'll just conclude the meeting and thank the people of Jacksonville. Before I do, I just want to make a few points.

GE is the eighth most valuable company in the world, number 10 for Fortune Most Admired, number one best company for leaders. The stock has outperformed all the indices over the last five years. We paid out more in dividends since 2001 than the 120 years combined. We executed one of the largest portfolio transformations in history last year. We have a $316 billion backlog in a slow-growth world. We've got great market positions and a $2 trillion installed base. We built the first business process center in Saudi Arabia, with 3,000 women, 3,000 women in Saudi Arabia. We're the leader in digitalization. We're one of the country's biggest manufacturers. We had a 100% contract ratification in 2015, the first time in history. We have high retention and strong culture. We've been voted the most ethical company in the world by Ethisphere Magazine for the last eight years.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a friend of mine that I worked with in health care in the late 90s. His name is Paul. He worked for GE for 42 years. He said, "Jeff, thank you for the note. It means a great deal to me. It's been an honor to have a career with GE. I want to thank you personally for a wonderful, high-integrity company that provides an outstanding work environment. I will dearly miss the people and technology. I was energized every day by my talented, hardworking, globally minded, diverse teammates and the medical breakthroughs we were delivering to our partners."

He was a good guy. This is a great company. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

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