CEO: Jeffrey Immelt
2010 Pre-tax Profit: $14.2 billion
Taxation strategy: GE's "innovative" accounting methods—which allowed it to accrue a $3.2 billion tax benefit in 2010, $833 million in 2009 and $651 million in 2008—are legendary. The company employs an entire team of former IRS and Treasury officials, dubbed the "world's best tax law firm," to make sure that profits are recorded in tax havens, tax breaks are maximized and laws passed on Capitol Hill are
favorable to its interests. In the last five years, its fillings show $26 billion in domestic profits, padded with a net tax benefit of $4.1 billion.
