GE Healthcare Transports Headquarters to China

GE Healthcare is moving the headquarters of its X-ray business from Waukesha, Wisc., to Bejing, China, to capitalize on robust growth in the Chinese market. GE Healthcare’s parent firm, the General Electric Company, is investing $2 billion in that market.

According to GE Healthcare, only a few of its top managers will relocate to China; no job losses are expected at the Wisconsin office, which employs 120 people. A total of 65 new engineers and other staff will be hired to operate the China facility.

Earlier this year, the company launched a three-year “Spring Wind” initiative that aims to develop affordable health care products, boost a medical distribution network across China and offer training for Chinese healthcare professionals. GE Healthcare also pledged to send 500 team members into rural China to help grassroots medical institutions last year.

Since the announcement, there has been chatter that President Obama and General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt are likely to take heat for the news. Immelt also is chairman of Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Though no U.S. jobs are in jeopardy, GE still risks criticism for creating jobs and stimulating a foreign economy. Shrinking its own workforce from 323,000 in 2009 to 287,000 currently is not likely to sit well with domestic business leaders and job creation proponents, either.

General Electric Company was under scrutiny earlier this year after The New York Times reported that the company did not pay any taxes in 2010. In April, the company’s chief spokesperson, Gary Sheffer, said the firm would have “a small U.S. income tax liability for 2010” but declined to be more specific.

GE Healthcare expects its health care revenue in China to rise 20 percent annually through 2015.