What's the Future of Siemens Turbine Unit? Depends Who You Ask

Whether Siemens AG holds on to its struggling large gas turbine business, or cuts it loose amid a downturn in the market, depends on who you ask. According to a memo from Lisa Davis, who oversees the operation as a member of Siemens’s managing board, the company is committed “for the long term.” By contrast, top executives at the German engineering giant say Davis’s stance represents an individual’s private opinion -- not the thinking of senior management, according to a person familiar with the matter. Davis’s pledge, issued following a Bloomberg News report that the company was weighing options including a possible sale, according to a person familiar with the document, and its swift disavowal on Friday reflect a split within the German engineering firm’s top brass over the unit’s future.