General Electric (GE), a US-based manufacturer of fridges and washing machines, has revealed that it is considering selling off its appliance unit, because of slow sales.The technology and services conglomorate, which is the biggest maker of appliances in the US, said that sales are not growing fast enough to support its long-term plans of reaching 10 per cent annual profit growth across all its divisions.According to The Wall Street Journal, GE has hired Goldman Sachs to auction off the centuries old division, although it reported that it may be open to acquiring a partner to manage the business instead. Last year, GE Appliances, which is headquartered in Kentucky, provided 4.1 per cent of the groups total sales, accounting for 7.2 billion (3.7 billion) of the 172.7 billion (88.7 billion) it received in revenue during 2007.As well as producing appliances, GE is also involved in the generation and distribution of electricity, medical imaging equipment, motor engines, railway trains, aircraft jet engines and the provision of a range of financial services. It also owns NBC Universal, an entertainment company, and is considered the second largest company in the world by market capitalisation, as of March 2008.