General Electric Co. GE 3.27% is seeking a buyer for key parts of its digital unit as the conglomerate unwinds a signature initiative of former Chief Executive Jeff Immelt that loses money despite billions in investment.
GE Digital, a once highly touted software unit based in San Ramon, Calif., was key to the strategic vision of Mr. Immelt, who left last summer. As part of an effort to reorient itself away from financial and media assets and bolster a sluggish stock price, the company built a software platform called Predix that aimed to help customers like utilities and airlines gather and analyze data to better manage their equipment.
GE Digital was established as a stand-alone unit in 2015 to distinguish it from the company’s industrial divisions. Mr. Immelt put a former Cisco Systems Inc. executive in charge and said his goal was to make GE a top-10 software company by 2020.
It isn’t clear what exactly is for sale and how much a deal could generate.
While the process is at an early stage, possible buyers include software companies and other industrial players seeking to become more digital-focused, one of the people said.
GE’s digital push included ramping up research spending and hiring thousands of programmers to develop software for the massive machinery it sells. In 2016, the company spent more than $4 billion developing tools like analytics and machine-learning software. The effort was also at the heart of the company’s advertising, which touted GE as a driver of a new “digital industrial” age.
