, Columnists
GE's Lucky Escape
Haier's $5.4 billion offer for white goods unit makes the scrapping of previous deal look inspired
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Rarely has disappointment tasted as sweet. When GE's deal to sell its appliances unit to Electrolux fell apart in December because of antitrust concerns, it seemed the U.S. industrial conglomerate had missed another opportunity to get out of a business it also failed to offload in 2008.
But from those ashes, GE has plucked a phoenix. First, the U.S. company received a $175 million break fee from Electrolux. And now it's struck a $5.4 billion deal to sell the white goods division to Haier Group, China's number-two appliance manufacturer by market share.