GE Splitting Its $50 Billion Energy Business in Three (Update 2)

Updated to include Barclays comments on management change.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Electric(GE) is restructuring its energy business as three standalone operations, in a move to unlock value and simplify the unit, which earns $50 billion in annual revenue.

In a statement released separate from Friday morning's second quarter earnings, GE said that it would reorganize GE Energy Infrastructure in the fourth quarter of 2012, in a move to speed up decision making, decrease operational costs and reduce management layers. Starting in 2013, each unit will report segmented earnings.

The Fairfield, Conn-based conglomerate said that its energy unit, which has approximately 100,000 employees, will be split into divisions focused on power and water, oil and gas, and energy management. The power and water unit that manufactures solutions for power and water processing plants will be the largest of the newly separated energy divisions.

"Big companies are always fighting organizational complexity. We are taking action at a time when the energy business is doing well," said GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt in a statement. "Removing layers is one way to reduce costs and increase our speed, focus and agility in the marketplace so we serve customers better," he added.

By splitting its disparate energy businesses, which serve operations ranging from shale drilling to offshore wind farms and power grids, GE is hoping to make the earnings of its businesses more apparent to investors. "This move will greatly simplify the way we communicate to investors and customers," Immelt said.

In the past few years, GE gas made a string of acquisitions in the oil service sector totaling approximately $11 billion.

Within GE's mix of energy, transportation, aviation, finance and healthcare businesses, Morgan Stanley analyst Nigel Coe noted that it was the company's soon-to-be realigned energy unit -- excluding wind turbines -- which was among the strongest performers in the second quarter. Other positive surprises came from GE's transportation unit, while aviation and healthcare earnings were lower than expected, Coe wrote in a note to clients.