For a Lévy process $ξ=(ξ_t)_{t\geq0}$ drifting to $-\infty$, we define the so-called exponential functional as follows \[{\rm{I}}_ξ=\int_0^{\infty}e^{ξ_t} dt.\] Under mild conditions on $ξ$, we show that the following factorization of exponential functionals \[{\rm{I}}_ξ\stackrel{d}={\rm{I}}_{H^-} \times {\rm{I}}_{Y}\] holds, where, $\times $ stands for the product of independent random variables, $H^-$ is the descending ladder height process of $ξ$ and $Y$ is a spectrally positive Lévy process with a negative mean constructed from its ascending ladder height process. As a by-product, we generate an integral or power series representation for the law of ${\rm{I}}_ξ$ for a large class of Lévy processes with two-sided jumps and also derive some new distributional properties. The proof of our main result relies on a fine Markovian study of a class of generalized Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes which is of independent interest on its own. We use and refine an alternative approach of studying the stationary measure of a Markov process which avoids some technicalities and difficulties that appear in the classical method of employing the generator of the dual Markov process.