The remainder of this article carries through on that theme and what should follow.
The other question then beyond "what did he know and when?", and which too was not asked, as he seemingly got a free pass during the interview with his charm and charisma, is "Where's the Beef Jeff?". That is, during his personal "I'm accountable" rendition of a Jimmy Swaggart act of contrition, a statement/question by the interviewers that talk is cheap so "Where's the Penance Jeff?" was in order. It never was asked.
Author's Note: Interestingly too, a very animated and cantankerous former GEO CEO Jack Welch was guest host on today's CNBC Squawk Box. Right out of the (squawk) box, he came out swinging at the media in scary tirade fashion, seemingly itching for a fight. Often too his angst seemingly aimed directly at the show's hosts, startling them and one even almost begging to stop being yelled at.
He made no bones about his feelings of Friday's debacle, and pulling no punches, overtly and distinctly, putting the most damning admonition of all, by way of his own legendary affirmation comment to the mess, spouting "Jeff screwed up", among other similar statements.
Just a guess, but that smoking gun comment may come back to haunt.
Aside from adding a little (a lot) entertaining flair in telling everyone what they already know, and his own formal acknowledgement of a "screw-up", Mr. Welch unfortunately failed to address that which he is perceived as an expert in – i.e. the "penalty box feature" in all this. Clearly, he has no apparent panache, polish and/or expertise in the role he assumed this morning and if I was a betting author, no future as a news show host.
To this viewer then, it looks like last Friday's "I'm accountable" is about all the satisfaction widow and orphan shareholders will receive for the stock collapse, noting the GE stock slide continued Monday and Tuesday, hitting a fresh 52 week low yesterday, with a slight bounce since, in sympathy with the overall market advance since.
A good guess, if Jack Welch were hypothetically now running the company and Mr. Immelt's business unit was the source of last Friday's numbers/reporting problem, "I'm accountable" would not quite cut it. It would likely be just Step 1. In fact, there would almost certainly be a Step 2. And it wouldn't be a simple slap on the wrist, with kumba ya encouragement to do better the next time.
Just a wild hunch.
Unfortunately, whereas Mr. Immelt seems to think (hope) saying "I'm accountable" is the end all, another shoe as respects "what's the penalty?" appears appropriate, prudent and necessary to drop.
Whether and/or what and when he knew or did not know aside for the moment, he should have at least had a quality crisis interview preparation by his team to simply put out the following basic points instead of the bumbling and stumbling that permeated his commentary and question answers, at least in the eyes and opinion of this interview observer.
In fact, the only prep seemingly received from his crisis management team as received by this viewer, appeared to be "Jeff, tell the viewers you're sorry. They love that fluff stuff" – i.e. vis-à-vis a hollow "I'm accountable".
To be clear and recognizing/acknowledging this author does not have all the earnings specifics, here's then the semblance of a rough draft "suggested" way (or something similar in theme/content) template Mr. Immelt might have used and been prudently prepped with, and pitched/spun the earnings release right off the bat in the interview, but didn't. Had he, he likely could have saved the market and GE stock from collapsing, at least greatly mitigated the losses:
"Good morning everyone.
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