The Breakup of Another Industrial Giant Is Coming

What do garbage disposals have in common with factory automation tools? Not much, but Emerson Electric Co. will gladly sell you both, at least for now.

Chief Executive Officer David Farr announced at the beginning of October that the company would conduct a comprehensive review of its businesses as it adapts to “a challenging geopolitical and economic landscape.” It was perhaps no coincidence that this announcement came close on the heels of reports that activist investor D.E. Shaw & Co. has built a stake in Emerson and will push for a breakup. The company’s structure—it has an automation unit that sells valves and measurement systems and a commercial and residential division that sells air conditioner controls, garbage disposals, and heavy-duty vacuums—feels obsolete in an age when industrial conglomerates are systematically dismantling themselves in the name of greater focus.