General Electric Co. may sell or seek a partner for the unit that makes refrigerators and washers, reports Bloomberg News.

GE, the biggest maker of appliances for new U.S. homes, hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to explore options that include a spinoff or auction, according to one of the people, who declined to be identified by name. A sale may bring $5 billion to $8 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Jeffrey Immelt, ceo, who took over from Jack Welch in 2001 and surprised investors with a decline in profit last quarter, has been paring consumer businesses to cope with a slower U.S. economy. The units he's selling don't expand fast enough to help GE reach its goal of 10% annual profit growth. Appliances, which like light bulbs are the GE products most familiar to consumers, accounted for about $7.2 billion in sales last year, or just 4.1% of the 2007 total.

``We would positively perceive