GE Says Hungarian Operation Turned Profit: General...

GE Says Hungarian Operation Turned Profit: General Electric Co.’s Tungsram light bulb factory, trumpeted in flashy television ads as a symbol of post-communist Eastern Europe’s new spirit, reversed three years of heavy losses and showed a slight profit in 1993, Chairman John Welch said. Welch also announced an investment of another $36 million in Hungary. GE has invested $550 million in the operation since 1989, far more than it envisioned at the outset. But the demise of Comecon, the communist trading bloc, and the evaporation of purchasing power in former communist countries meant major financial losses to most Hungarian enterprises.