Jack Welch leaves Fortune and Reuters
After a media drubbing, the retired executive will stick to the friendlier pastures of the Wall Street Journal
By Alex HalperinTopics: economy, Jack Welch, Elections News, Business News, News, Politics News
Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch said he would stop writing for Fortune magazine and Reuters after he generated controversy for questioning government unemployment figures, Fortune.com reported.
On Friday, the retired executive tweeted that the jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics were “unbelievable” and suggested that “these Chicago guys” had somehow altered the figures. Later on MSNBC he refused to back down despite his lack of evidence. President Obama’s reelection campaign is based in Chicago.
Reuters, Fortune.com and Fortune.com sibling CNNMoney have all run critical coverage of Welch since Friday. A Fortune.com article highlighted that GE had lost 100,000 jobs during Welch’s tenure, roughly a quarter of its workforce. On Friday Reuters quoted Barry Ritholtz, CEO and director of equity research at Fusion IQ, a firm which manages about $300 million, saying, ”This guy is the guy that’s telling me the books are cooked? That’s hilarious.”
Fortune managing editor Andy Serwer piled on Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying the economy contradicted Welch’s assessment. “I think it’s exactly the opposite of what Jack Welch is saying,” Serwer said. “Things are actually improving.”
In an email to Reuters editor in chief Stephen Adler and Fortune’s Serwer, Welch said he would continue writing for the Wall Street Journal, where his work gets better “traction.” The Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Welch wrote business pieces for Reuters and Fortune with his wife Suzy Welch. According to Daily Intel, Suzy Welch said the split was unrelated to last week’s employment figures.
(Disclosure: I worked for BusinessWeek.com when Stephen Adler was editor in chief there.)
Alex Halperin is news editor at Salon. You can follow him on Twitter @alexhalperin. More Alex Halperin.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Krist Novoselic: My plan to fix Congress, curb obstruction
-
Why I quit the Republican Party
-
How IRS scandal could help Karl Rove and dark money
-
The truly worrying thing about Mark Sanford's win
-
The futility of the Deep South Democrat
-
Sanford wins special election in South Carolina
-
Is revolution coming to the U.S.?
-
How a big fracking setback got overlooked
-
Rand Paul will never be president
-
It's time for Democrats to ditch Andrew Jackson
-
What you need to know about Gabriel Gomez
-
Who is the real Anthony Weiner?
-
How to interpret Kirsten Gillibrand's political opportunism
-
Census reveals historic black voter turnout
-
Republican's term limits proposal is dumb, undemocratic
-
Save your cash -- forget OFA!
-
The Reagan Revolution is over
-
Pelosi to Salon: They had to take me down
-
Campaign finance reform in the age of Citizens United
-
Do campaigns still work?
-
Mark Sanford ad: Everybody makes mistakes
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
Jonathan Bernstein
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
Paul Buchheit, AlterNet
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
Scott Timberg
-
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook
Mary Elizabeth Williams
-
"Jodorowsky's Dune": The sci-fi classic that never was
Andrew O'Hehir
-
My open relationship went awry
David Farley
-
Will you marry me -- once you're done peeing?
Tracy Clark-Flory
-
Temple Grandin on DSM-5: "Sounds like diagnosis by committee"
Temple Grandin and Richard Panek
-
The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch
Benoit Denizet-Lewis
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com

546 points547 points548 points | 144 comments
From Around the Web
Presented by Scribol
-
Lisa Belkin: The Tornado In Oklahoma Is This Parent's Living Nightmare -
Chris Weigant: Obama's Teflon Presidency? -
House Passes Bill Protecting Against Military Medal Lies -
Oklahoma Senators Repeatedly Opposed Disaster Relief Funds -
Majority Of Americans Still Believe In JFK Conspiracy, But Not As Much As Before
- How To Help Oklahoma Tornado Victims
- Photos And Footage Of Oklahoma Twister's Devastation
- The Case Of The Frequent Flier Who Complained Too Much
- Will 'Saturday Night Live' Suffer A Cast Crisis Now That Bill Hader Has Left 'SNL' For Good?
- Spanish Hotel Bans Children With Down Syndrome; Hotel CaboGata Says Group Of Kids ‘Might Annoy Other Guests’



Fox News Involvement May Spark Republican Outrage Over DOJ Media Spying
Liberal Super PAC Had Secret Bain Ties
Obama Went Off Script To Address Gay Grads Directly At Morehouse College
President Obama Addresses Gay College Grads During Morehouse Commencement Ceremony


Comments
11 Comments