Deals
Corporate America Goes on Debt Diet After $3 Trillion Binge
- Stock and bond investors are both pressing for less borrowing
- GE sells a drug business for $21 billion, to pay down debt
Photographer: Alexander Spatari/Getty Images
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U.S. companies are finally listening to stock and bond investors that have been pressing corporations to cut their debt loads.
General Electric Co. is selling its biopharmaceutical business to Danaher Corp. for more than $21 billion, and using the money to pay down borrowings. Kraft Heinz Co. said last week it was slashing its dividend and using the proceeds of asset sales to reduce its liabilities.