GE to buy back $50B of its own stock

General Electric announced Friday it would buy back $50 billion of its own stock in an effort to get out of the lending business and return to its industrial roots.

The profits to buy back shares will be generated through slimming down some aspects of the company, primarily its financial arm, GE Capital. It expects to raise just over $30 billion through the sale of real estate assets, according to Forbes.

The buyback announcement follows other moves to slim down that GE has made in recent years, including the sale of its stake in NBC Universal to Comcast in 2013.

GE anticipates its industrial businesses to generate 90 percent of the company?s earnings by 2018, with what is left of GE Capital to fill in the remainder.

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