GE’s Not Alone: 25 Companies That Owe $1 Trillion In Pensions
General Electric is getting out of the pension business — and is just the latest company to do so. But such efforts by S&P 500 companies only go so far.
They’re still on the hook for hundreds of billions in pension obligations. Twenty-five S&P 500 companies, including International Business Machines (IBM), GE (GE) and General Motors (GM), collectively face $1 trillion in pension benefit obligations, according to an Investor’s Business Daily analysis of projections from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
It’s a significant looming bill, which is the size of Microsoft’s (MSFT) entire market value. And these same companies only have 85% of that much money held in total plan assets.
And they’re not alone. More than half of S&P 500, 273 companies to be exact, still have pension liabilities on their books.
These liabilities add up to nearly $1.8 trillion. Now you know why GE froze its pension obligations.
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