When John L. Flannery took over as the chief executive of General Electric last August, he declared that he would not be nostalgic about the industrial giant's storied past when reshaping the company for the future.
He wasn't kidding.
General Electric said on Tuesday that it planned to spin off its health care business and sell its multibillion-dollar stake in Baker Hughes, a major producer of oil field equipment, as Mr. Flannery turns the embattled industrial titan into a much smaller company.
