Welch, wife settle divorce out of court

NEW YORK — The celebrity divorce trial of the summer has been canceled.

Four days before former General Electric Chief Executive Jack Welch and his estranged wife, Jane Beasley Welch, were to lock horns in a Bridgeport, Conn., courtroom, the pair issued a joint press release saying they had reached an amicable settlement. Details of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Jack Welch and Jane Beasley Welch have settled the matter effective immediately and are now divorced," the statement said.

Welch declined comment. His attorney, Dan Webb, did not return a call for comment. Jane Beasley, who dropped Welch's name, could not be reached.

The trial, which was to start Monday, promised to throw open a window onto the lifestyle of one of the nation's wealthiest and most celebrated corporate titans. Filings in the case had already offered a tantalizing glimpse.

Attorneys for Beasley filed documents with the court last fall describing Jack Welch's finances. They included a sumptuous retirement package from GE, where Welch served as chief executive for 20 years. The package included tickets to high-profile sporting events, use of a Manhattan apartment, country-club fees, security services, financial planning and other deluxe perks.

Welch's attorneys disputed some elements of the filing. Nonetheless, disclosure of the sumptuous severance ignited criticism from corporate-governance advocates who said GE shareholders should not have to foot the bill for Welch's lavish lifestyle. Welch subsequently agreed to pay GE for many of the benefits.

In another filing, Welch's lawyers described the former chief executive's net worth as around $450 million, much of it in GE stock. The lawyers described monthly expenses for Welch, including more than $20,000 for food, wine, clothes and other items, and "shelter" expenses of around $50,000 per month for homes in Connecticut, Florida and Nantucket, Mass.

Welch, who delivered remarkably steady growth for GE and became a business icon, filed for divorce in April of last year after his affair with former Harvard Business Review editor Suzy Wetlaufer became public.

Wetlaufer resigned from the Review after a number of staff members demanded she leave. At the time, The Wall Street Journal reported that Wetlaufer pulled a piece she had written based on an interview with Welch after Welch's wife called and asked whether Wetlaufer could be objective in light of the relationship. The scandal also sparked controversy over the august Harvard Business Review's practices when it was revealed that the magazine let subjects review interviews and suggest changes and deletions.

The Welch divorce case turned ugly fast with dueling court filings and arguments over the true size of Jack Welch's fortune. Things quieted down somewhat in November when the two sides agreed to a new monthly support payment in excess of the $35,000 per month Welch had been paying his wife. Also late last year, Welch offered his wife a package estimated at $130 million to settle the divorce case, according to news accounts at the time. Beasley's lawyers rejected the offer as too small.