Spectral Lines: A stirring giant

The intention of General Electric to acquire the RCA Corp. came as a blockbuster. Yet Monday-morning quarterbacks insisted the takeover was not improbable. GE's aggressive chairman, John F. Welch Jr., had put the corporate giant in a good position to execute such a coup. Among other things, he had divested over $5 billion worth of the corporation's businesses and reduced the workforce by nearly 100000.