Play Video General Electric's Culp: No higher priority than bringing down leverage levels
General Electric Chairman and CEO Larry Culp said Monday the industrial conglomerate's troubled power business is getting close to a bottom.
"We are working very hard with the power team to get a better grounding in our reality," Culp said in an interview with CNBC's David Faber on "Squawk on the Street." Asked whether the power unit "has bottomed," Culp said, "we're getting close."
"We will known when we're there because like any business facing ... pressures, it's a little bumpy on the way down," he said. "But I think we have a good line of sight."
The company announced on Oct. 20 third-quarter earnings that fell short of Wall Street expectations as profits were weighed down by restructuring costs and weak performance at its power and oil and gas businesses.
GE's performance has been especially hurt by its power business, which saw profits decline 51 percent to $611 million, from $1.3 billion a year earlier.
Culp, 55, replaced John Flannery as chairman and CEO on Oct. 1 after the board reportedly became frustrated with the slow pace of change at the struggling industrial conglomerate. Culp was named to the GE board in April, and was CEO and president of Danaher from 2000 to 2014.
GE's stock was trading 6.5 percent lower on Monday. GE, with a market cap of more than $72 billion, has seen its shares fall more than 50 percent this year and more nearly 60 percent over the past 12 months.
The stock slipped below $9 a share on Friday for the first time since the financial crisis.
In the CNBC interview, Culp also said he feels the "urgency" to reduce the company's leverage and will do so through asset sales.
—CNBC's Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.
WATCH: CNBC's full interview with General Electric's Larry Culp
Play Video Watch CNBC's full interview with General Electric's Larry Culp 
