Recently, General Electric—the last remaining member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s original 1896 index—was removed from the world’s most prestigious equity benchmark. News of the venerable brand’s dismissal from the Dow, the index of 30 large, publicly traded U.S. brands reflecting the health of the financial markets, was somber but not entirely surprising.

Down more than 80 percent from its all-time high in 2000, GE had come to account for less than 1 percent of the overall weight of the index. As the company adjusts to new leadership and a massive reorganization, the question in the wake of GE’s delisting is not so much whether it can return to the Dow someday, but whether it will survive and, if so, what it will look like in the years to come.

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