IBM still defines the backbones of information infrastructure, as already mentioned. GE is literally one of three major jet engine makers (alongside Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce) in the world, to say nothing of their more mundane businessess (eg: household appliances).
A company doesn't have to be a household name to be one of the foundations upon which the modern world depends on.
> IBM still defines the backbones of information infrastructure
Mainframes are just machines some businesses have found it difficult to migrate away from, though they would very much like to. IBM is not the only company who manufactures them, by the way.
> GE is literally one of three major jet engine makers
That part of the GE conglomerate does well because it's floated by the defense industry and commercial aviation. In other words, it depends on government money.
> to say nothing of their more mundane businesses
I internally chuckle a bit when I see "GE Lighting, a Savant company."
> eg: household appliances
GE hasn't made household appliances, as opposed to putting their brand on junk made in China or someplace, in 30 or 40 years. They were the innovator in this space roughly around the time America put a man on the moon.
A company doesn't have to be a household name to be one of the foundations upon which the modern world depends on.