19 June 2018: GE is kicked out of the Dow
On June 19, 2018 S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that General Electric would be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replaced by Walgreens. GE was an original member of the 1896 average and had been in continuously since 1907. Its removal followed years of falling profits, writedowns and a collapsing share price. The once most valuable company in America had become too small for the index.
The lesson: Past greatness provides no protection; every company must keep earning its place.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in General Electric at the start of 2018 → $2,000 today, vs $2,519 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2018, the year it happened. That is 2.0 times the money, but $519 less than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What General Electric teaches: Earnings that look too smooth often hide leverage or accounting; the market eventually pays for transparency and punishes complexity.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | $200 | $1,400 | $3,301 |
| 2018 | $140 | $2,000 | $2,519 |
| 2020 | $90.00 | $3,111 | $2,092 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought General Electric? Every starting year and the full story →
More General Electric history
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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