“The biggest single moment in the history of GE was using $40 billion of balance-sheet equity to buy back stock to support a $2 a share,” explained one board member. “Jeff, all these guys, they should be eviscerated and chastised for taking a short-term view in a company they were building. And the reason they did it was because there was so much pressure from the Trian guys that if they didn’t achieve it, they were going to get canned anyway.
