Business News Roundup, Nov. 15
General Electric Co. agreed to buy ServiceMax, a Pleasanton cloud software company, for $915 million to expand its digital operations and enhance equipment maintenance.
The deal will help GE automate and digitize the servicing of heavy-duty machinery, the Boston company said Monday.
“It’s no secret our services revenue is the bulk of our earnings and is a key part of what makes us successful,” Bill Ruh, chief executive officer of GE Digital, said in an interview.
GE is investing in software operations and attempting to position itself as a “digital industrial” company that makes equipment outfitted with sensors to improve productivity.
CEO Jeffrey Immelt has sold off most finance and consumer businesses while focusing on industries such as energy and aviation.
GE has developed an operating system called Predix to help run industrial equipment more reliably and efficiently.
ServiceMax provides field-service management software to remotely track equipment maintenance, create work orders and manage repair schedules.
A judge has ordered Hewlett Packard Enterprise to continue working on a long-delayed project to build a new computer system for Rhode Island’s Division of Motor Vehicles.
Superior Court Associate Justice Michael Silverstein on Monday issued a temporary restraining order at the state’s request to block the Palo Alto company from walking off the unfinished job.
The judge notes the sharp divide between the parties over the contractual obligations, the company’s threat to walk away and the harm the state would suffer.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says its leader, Mary Jo White, will leave at the end of the Obama administration.
President-elect Donald Trump is due to take office Jan. 20 and likely will name his own choice to head the market watchdog agency in the near future.
The billionaire investor has famously avoided the sector in the past, although his Berkshire Hathaway does own NetJets, which sells partial ownership interests in business jets.
Buffett disclosed the new investments, which also include United Continental Holdings, Monday in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
American Apparel is seeking bankruptcy protection for the second time in just over a year, unable to find its footing even after a contentious fight for control with founder Dov Charney.
The Los Angeles retailer first filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2015, about a year after it fired Charney for violating its sexual harassment policy.