Fortune 500 rank: 4
2009 profit: $11.0 billion
GE's finance unit haunted it throughout the year. Overall earnings fell by a third. Part of that decline reflects losses on consumer loans and commercial real estate within GE Capital -- the unit responsible for about half of GE's profits. The massive conglomerate, which makes everything from locomotives to jet engines to hospital scanners, also lost its AAA-credit rating which could hurt it down the road.
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